Chapter 75 victory is an aphrodisiac

It's still dark, what's going on here? If you want to ask the reason, you have to blame Tanaka for revealing the bottom of the "iron drum transportation". The "Cactus Air Force" couldn't catch the ship during the day, so it came to destroy the barrels at night. It is true that it is dark, but American planes can fire flares.As flares continued to be released, U.S. bombers swooped down from the clouds, and the bombs mercilessly hit the boat.Several small boats that landed behind Sugita were immediately blown up, and the fragmented floating barrels floated on the sea surface together with human body stumps and arms, drifting with the waves.

Sugita's boat was also overturned, and when Sugita surfaced, the boat had sunk.Ozawa was even worse, one of his legs was blown off, and then he was swept away by the raging waves. More than a dozen small boats were all sunk by bombing. Sugita and others grabbed the ropes and dragged the buoy bucket to the shore with difficulty. Seeing a floating barrel approaching, the soldiers waiting on the shore swarmed up, scrambling to grab food from the bombed barrel, stuffing raw rice into their mouths when they caught it, ignoring the flare bombs bursting from above, the bombers were still hunting food target.

One bomb down can kill a bunch of people.Sugita, who was lucky enough to escape, couldn't bear to look at the corpses and rice lying on the coast. Tanaka unloaded 1,500 floating barrels at Cape Tassafaranga, and the Japanese army on Guadalcanal Island only took back 310. The rest were all blown up by American planes, and more than 300 Japanese soldiers who participated in the "tug of war" were also turned into flying smoke. . Of course, this account cannot be blamed on Tanaka. After all, he finished the work and put down the floating barrels one by one. As for whether the Japanese army in Guadalcanal can get them, it is not his problem.

On December 7, Tanaka led eight destroyers, towed 1,200 floating barrels, and launched the third "iron barrel-tied Tokyo Express". Since Cape Tassafaranga had been locked by the U.S. military, Tanaka deliberately changed the location and dropped the buoys at Cape Esparnes.Everything went well, and Tanaka thought he had a plan, but when the fleet turned around and returned, the U.S. torpedo boat came to them like a ghost, and the torpedo fired just hit the ammunition bay of the destroyer "Teruzuki", and "Teruzuki" was broken in two. , people fell into the water one after another.

The "Teruzuki" was used by Tanaka as the flagship this time. He fell into the sea from the bridge, was shot in the head and almost died.Fortunately, there were aides and other officers nearby, who hurriedly dragged him to another destroyer and fled in a hurry. Behind the Tanaka fleet, the U.S. torpedo boat turned on its searchlights and calmly smashed a string of floating iron barrels to pieces. The hope of the Japanese army to turn defeat into victory was shattered like these iron barrels.That day was the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the press conference held for this purpose, the reporter asked Nimitz to predict the outcome of the war. Nimitz replied generously: "I don't want to use the date to answer this question, but I can use The map will answer you."

Standing up, he pointed to the map on the wall and announced: "When the Japanese army is pursued and beaten in the place shown on the map, with nowhere to hide, and when its vital force is destroyed, the war will be over." Victory is an aphrodisiac, especially continuous victories will make the commander look like a different person.Think about how difficult it was for Nimitz to face reporters when he first sat on the throne of the Pacific Fleet commander, but now he is also eloquent and eloquent. On December 8, the diary of the Japanese army on Guadalcanal recorded: "The rice has already been eaten, and even the coconuts are almost gone."

The 17th Army, which had eaten up all the rice, had to stay on the island for a while, and the 1st Marine Division had to say goodbye to this "Island of Death". On December 9, they began switching defenses with the Army's 25th Division, and Vandergrift transferred command to the Army. At that time, there were rumors that the 1st Marine Division was going back to the United States for Christmas, but it turned out not to be the case. They just withdrew to Australia to rest.Even so, it's not bad for the Marines. Lecky's 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, was the last to leave Guadalcanal on December 14th.Since landing on the island, they have suffered for five months. Before, they always thought that someone would come to defend them, but they were disappointed and even desperate again and again.

On countless dark days, Lecky and his comrades have asked their superiors: "When are we leaving Guadalcanal?" The boss is a lieutenant platoon leader, who also looks confused: "If you ask me, I don't know." Someone had malaria and his forehead was hot. The platoon leader asked him to go to the infirmary to see a doctor. The soldier shook his head: "No." The platoon leader was very surprised: "Why don't you go?" The soldier said, "What's the use of going? They'll just give me some aspirin. If I have a really bad fever, they'll just put me in the same tent with other people with severe fevers. They won't let me go back." Home, they won't take me out of Guadalcanal, no one can leave, so it's useless to go."

The platoon leader admitted he was telling the truth: "Yes, I think you're right." The soldier became more and more sad: "I tell you, no one will leave this island, not even in a pine box." The platoon leader lowered his head: "You're right, don't we have a cemetery here?" Lecky had had the feeling that they had been abandoned, that, as the fevered soldier had said, it might never be possible to leave the island or return home.At home, people will just go to the movies and gossip day in and day out, and no one cares about them, and they will be sadly sacrificed -- not sacrificed, but sacrificed.

Of course, no matter how boring or bitter, the 1st Marine Division is the 1st Marine Division. These warriors have never made the Japanese army on the island feel better. The number of Japanese troops who fell before them was unmatched in the entire Pacific War. Years later, Radio Tokyo also called the 1st Marine Division the "Butcher of Guadalcanal Island." Hearing the arrival of the "Butcher of Guadalcanal Island", the Japanese were all terrified. Now it was finally time to leave. On the ship carrying them, the marines asked a sailor, "Have you heard of Guadalcanal before you came here?"

American wounded soldiers on Guadalcanal were flown away.Before the troops can be transferred, the veterans are eager to suffer some "minor injuries" such as broken legs and arms (of course not the kind that kill themselves), so that they can justifiably leave the battlefield and go to the rear to enjoy people's comfort. Attention ceremony and free drinks. The sailor immediately yelled: "Damn it, of course I've heard of Guadalcanal, and the First Division of the Marine Corps, women and children know about it! You are famous, and you will be heroes when you return to China." The marines didn't know when the sailor who said the words left, because they quickly turned their faces away-even then, the tough guys didn't want others to see that they were already in tears. It turns out that people have never forgotten them from beginning to end, and whether they leave or not, they will not become victims.