Chapter 77 The Last Supper

Halsey had to admit that his opponent had made a clever move: Munda Island is not far from Guadalcanal Island. If an airport is built here, not only Henderson Airport will be seriously threatened, but also the US military's sea transportation line will be cut off. The one who can make this move is none other than the commander of the United Fleet, Yamamoto.On the surface, Yamamoto showed indifference to the reinforcement of Guadalcanal, but in fact he was also suffering, especially when he learned that most of the officers and soldiers of the 16th Regiment of the 2nd Division came from his hometown of Nagaoka, he was greatly hurt in his heart Stimulate.

The 16th Regiment was nearly wiped out, and it was fine if they died in the battle immediately. Those who are still alive would rather die, which is really sad.At this time, Yamamoto can more clearly understand the relationship between the navy and the army that never leaves their cheeks, and their cheeks never leave their lips. Anyway, they are grasshoppers in a line.The question is what can he do to save Guadalcanal?The carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier hadn't passed the landing training, so they couldn't fly over to escort them.Let the destroyer group ignore the danger and implement the "iron barrel tied to the Tokyo Express" is already the biggest capital he can spend.

The army will not understand Yamamoto's difficulties, they will only think that the navy will not save you-salt is still salty, vinegar is still sour, and you will never be able to get rid of your selfish and stingy spirit. Those who know me say I am worried, those who don't know me say what I want.Yamamoto was "depressed and deeply worried", and bluntly said in a letter to his friends: "Many difficult things do not come from the enemy, but from within ourselves." Some people privately called Yamamoto "the number one antique in the fleet", but in fact, "Antique" quit early: "I am quite exhausted and feel powerless. If it were not in the war era, someone should have taken over my position long ago, but There is still no news."

If you want to be unable to retreat, even if you are unable to do so, you must do your best.Yamamoto thought hard about a good strategy. Since the aircraft carrier cannot be dispatched temporarily, why not learn from the Americans and rebuild an unsinkable aircraft carrier? After some selection, Yamamoto decided to build an airport on Munda Island.In order not to be discovered by the U.S. military, he set up the airport in a dense coconut grove. Every time the construction workers removed a tree, they pulled up a camouflage net on the original site, covered with coconut and palm leaves.When U.S. military pilots perform high-altitude reconnaissance, it is difficult to find that the ground is repairing the runway without careful observation.

But if people don't know, unless they do nothing, let Halsey find out.How could "Barbarian" take this trouble of his heart lightly? He immediately ordered the destruction of the Munda Airport under construction. The first to fly over Munda Island was the "Cactus Air Force".Due to the ferocity of the Japanese anti-aircraft guns, the "Fearless" type could not accurately hit the target when it dived and dropped bombs, and the bombing did not cause much damage to the airport. Two days later, 18 "Flying Fortresses" set off from Espiritu Santo.This time, all the dumplings were loaded, tons of heavy bombs fell on the runway, and the airport was in flames. In desperation, the Japanese had to shift to surprise construction at night.

Afterwards, the U.S. military dispatched bombers during the day and seaplanes at night to continuously attack the airport, and Yamamoto responded by sending "Zero" to cover the construction.By mid-December, the main project of Munda Airport was nearly completed, and a large number of "Zeros" entered the airport. According to Yamamoto's plan, they bombed Henderson Airport in turn, and U.S. ships traveling to and from the sea transportation line were also bombed. was attacked. Small and medium-scale strikes are not enough to destroy Munda Airport. Munda Airport may further become the second Guadalcanal Island. Halsey has resorted to a new thunderous method: protected by "Wildcat" fighter jets, more than 40 B- 26 "Marauder" bombers launched a large-scale attack on Munda airfield.

Since a large number of "Zero" types entered the Munda Airport, with relatives who have backs, the airport staff thought they could sit back and relax. Therefore, they were quite caught off guard when the overwhelming number of American planes arrived.The four "Zero" planes had just left the runway when they were surrounded by the "Wildcat" fleet and fell into the sea. F4F "Wildcat" fighter jets preparing for an assault. The "Wildcat" was the main carrier-based fighter equipped by the US Navy in the early days of the Pacific War.Due to the disadvantages of speed and flexibility, "Wildcat" is not a "Zero" opponent in a one-on-one wrestling, but fortunately, it has a strong survivability. "Escape safely under the sharp claws of the style.In the photo, you can clearly see the ring around the outer ring of the "Wildcat" emblem.

Most of the anti-aircraft gunners of the Japanese army were as awake as the pilots. Before they entered the position, the "Predator" type collectively "rolled" the Japanese planes waiting to fly on the runway and the tarmac.In this attack, a total of 26 Japanese aircraft were shot down and destroyed, and only eight fighters hidden under the camouflage net were spared. Seeing the U.S. plane leave, the Japanese ground crews thought they were unlucky, while pushing away the wreckage of the plane on the runway, preparing to let the remaining fighter jets fly into the sky.What they never expected was that what happened just now was only the first wave, and the second wave came right after.

Amidst the shrill air-raid sirens, the crowd had no choice but to pull up the camouflage net again, and then got into the air-raid shelter and waited to be bombed. After the second wave of American aircraft attack teams arrived, they were not interested in bombing them—the airport was in a sea of ​​flames, and basically everything that could be bombed was blown up. The city gate caught fire, which affected the fish in the pond, and the dozen or so transport ships anchored on Munda Island suffered disaster.The U.S. planes made fun of them, turned them horizontally and vertically, and sank most of the transport ships in a short while.

The attack is not over yet.Before sunset, the "Flying Fortress" that took off from Espiritu Santo Island also came to visit. Like the second attack team, the pilots could not find the attack target, and they were unwilling to take the bomb back as it was, so they dropped the bomb The overturned runway has a second plowing, plowing again from head to toe. Meiji became the omnipotent god over the Solomon Islands.After making Munda Airport completely unrecognizable, they bombed the iron barrels dropped by the "iron barrels of Tokyo Express" the next day.The Tanaka fleet dropped 1,200 iron drums, but the Japanese army on the island only picked up more than 100, and the rest were all blown up by planes.

With the attack on Munda Airport, Japanese aircraft almost disappeared over Guadalcanal Island. The "Cactus Air Force" became very popular. American planes hovered, flew low, strafed, and dropped bombs over the Japanese defense line every day. Although Patch stopped launching large-scale ground attacks, many Japanese officers and soldiers were killed and injured. For the Japanese army on the island, medicines are as rare as food.Without medicine, military doctors could only use seawater to treat the festering wounds of the wounded. A large number of wounded and sick lay in the dark tents, letting blowflies buzz and swarm over.Some people have only their last breath left, and they open their mouths wide, and when the flies fly into their mouths, they swallow them all at once. This is called the "last supper" before death.In this case, the deaths of the wounded and sick can be expected: those who can stand can live for 30 days; those who can sit can live for 20 days; those who can lie down to urinate can live for three days; Live for two days; those who cannot blink will die in the early morning. People die every day, and those who survive are all pale, their hair is as thin as a baby's, and their teeth are missing as much as they can. The Japanese army on Guadalcanal Island was completely desperate.The whole country of Japan was shocked. When referring to the war in Guadalcanal, the emperor admitted sadly: "The Japanese Empire encountered great difficulties in the war in Guadalcanal." Hearing the news, Yamamoto was so disturbed that his "black hair turned white all night", he had to do everything possible to share the emperor's worries.