Chapter 39 sad sea battle

Durman did not panic. Under the cover of the smoke screen released by the destroyer, he re-formed the cruiser, and with his flagship "Druiter" as the lead, he sent out a signal with the signal lights on and off: "All Ship, follow me!" Under the command of Durman, the assault formation sailed in a roundabout way, and launched an attack after determining the position of the Takagi Fleet and its convoy. A Japanese destroyer was sunk immediately. Durman's courage allowed him to control the situation again, and Takagi began to panic.Obviously it was his own "spear" torpedo that was exploding, but he thought it was the Allied mines that were ringing--Have I entered the minefield preset by the Allies?

Takagi's heart was in his throat, and he hurriedly ordered to retreat north. As the night gradually fell, the dim twilight and the lingering gunfire enveloped the entire battlefield, and both sides temporarily lost their targets. Takagi didn't know whether Durman was still chasing after him, but Durman had an illusion, He believed that the Takagi fleet was withdrawing to the west, and it was likely that the troopship group was going north. "The convoy has gone west. Where is the troop carrier?" While calling the Bandung headquarters, Durman led the fleet to search north. He wanted to find and sink the Japanese landing force at all costs.

There were originally nine destroyers in the assault formation. Except for the sunk and wounded ones and those left to salvage the soldiers who fell into the water, the remaining destroyers had run out of mines and were about to run out of fuel. They had to return to the port to load torpedoes and refuel. Durman did not choose to give up. He took the "Druiter" in front and continued to move forward at full speed with three cruisers.He concluded that the Japanese troopship group had not yet reached Java, and there was still time. The plane once again played the role of "Mr. Key".The Japanese planes quickly tracked the movement direction of the assault formation. In addition to reporting to Takagi in time, they continued to parachute and drop flares in the dark, and the routes of the Allied ships were fully exposed.

Just like two masters in a dark room, one master explores with his senses, while the other relies on the help of "night vision goggles", just squats in the corner and waits for the kill. At 10:30 in the evening, Takagi's flagship "Nachi" spotted Durman.Takagi lined up the Japanese ships in parallel, blocking the way of the assault formation. It would have been very different if Durman had owned either the Prince of Wales or the Repulse, but he has none.When the distance between the two sides was shortened to less than eight kilometers, a Japanese destroyer fired a row of torpedoes at the assault formation, and a deadly "spear" torpedo penetrated into the stern of the flagship "Druiter". Immediately sank in a sea of ​​flames.

A few seconds later, the "Java" met the same fate. Both cruisers happened to be Dutch warships. The moment the flagship was hit, Durman knew he had failed. Failure often tests a person more than success. Durman has the time and possibility to escape in a lifeboat, but he refuses to do so. He chooses to sink into the sea with his warship, his staff, and his officers and men. The last signal that Durman sent in his life was to tell the remaining two cruisers to withdraw quickly and not to rescue those who fell into the water, because his instinct told him that this would lead to the annihilation of the entire formation.

After receiving the signal, the two remaining cruisers quickly fled south to the port of Batavia, which saved them from their doom. Behind the Takagi fleet is the troop carrier group that plans to land.The fierce pursuit of the assault formation forced Imamura to postpone the landing, and some officers and soldiers couldn't help complaining, "There are simply too many things going on at sea." Soon, complaints were replaced by surprise.As far as their naked eyes could see, red and yellow cannon flames flickered back and forth, rumbling cannons sounded one after another, and the night was completely torn apart by this thrilling artillery battle.

This was the largest naval battle since World War I, and it was fought from day to night.Although the Japanese soldiers watching the battle had long been accustomed to the scene of killing people, they were still shocked by the ruthless massacre at sea. When two Dutch ships sank into the Java Sea, when the black waters completely engulfed the sailors on board, the gap between life and death became thinner than paper.Some of the Japanese soldiers shouted with joy, while others trembled and trembled. Of course, they were delighted that they had won the victory, and trembling was also understandable. It was a kind of fear. They would be swallowed up, and like most troop carriers, they would become mud on the ocean floor.

The attack of the assault formation delayed the landing time of the 16th Army by 24 hours.After escaping the pursuit of the Allied cruisers, Imamura began to reorganize the convoys to land separately. At 2 o'clock in the evening on March 1, 1942, 40 of the troop carriers arrived in Banten Bay (now Jakarta Bay). Banten Bay is located near the equator.The sky at the equator looks very low, and the stars are particularly bright. The sky is full of stars shining on the earth, and even the hull of the ship can be recognized. At this moment, several rays of light suddenly flashed across the sea, and the Japanese soldiers turned pale with panic: it turned out that they also had a chance to become mud on the seabed.