Chapter 43 Dude, get over the blockade

At 7:15 pm on March 11, 1942, MacArthur came to the pier in a jeep. When everyone boarded the boat, Mai Shuai turned around slowly, watching Corregidor Island silently.This is such a beautiful small island, but now it is beyond recognition. The bright flowers and green bushes are gone, the buildings and houses are gone, and even the roads have turned black after being bombed. But Corregidor Island is still extremely strong, like a fixed battleship, just like him, MacArthur, who may not be able to win for the time being, but definitely can afford to lose, and will win in the future. The night has come, it's time to go, MacArthur holds the military cap in his hand, bids farewell to everything he is familiar with here, and to the people who are saying goodbye to the pier.At that moment, his face turned pale, and the muscles on his face twitched violently.

Hold here until I come back to take your place! MacArthur strode onto the torpedo boat and ordered to the escort commander, Captain Bulkley: "You can untie the cable." When Quezon evacuated, he took a submarine. MacArthur could have left in the same way, but because of the delay of three weeks, the Japanese army's outer blockade became tighter. torpedo boat. This is a torpedo boat unit with a total of 4 speedboats. Although the speed of the speedboats has dropped due to continuous use and lack of maintenance, they are still much faster than Japanese cruisers or destroyers. A total of 16 torpedoes are installed on the front and rear of the torpedo boat.Bulkley arranged the speedboat squadron in a diamond formation, so that all 16 torpedoes could occupy the best launching positions. His plan was that as soon as the torpedo boat was spotted by the Japanese surface ships, he would immediately launch an attack, regardless of whether it was a cruiser or a destroyer. Let the torpedo go through a few holes in it.

That being said, it was actually a pretty bold venture.To deal with one or two enemy ships, the speedboat unit may still have a way. In front of a whole fleet, just 4 speedboats are too insignificant.In addition, they not only had to pass through the sea blockade of the Japanese army, but also sailed thousands of kilometers. If any accident happened on the way, no troops would have time to provide support. When seeing off at the pier, MacArthur once heard a brief conversation.Someone asked: "Can he (referring to MacArthur) break through the blockade?" Another replied: "Don't know, maybe he has a one in five chance."

What if you can't cross the blockade?The Japanese have long announced in the external broadcast that if MacArthur can be captured alive, he will be hanged or beheaded in the Imperial Plaza in Tokyo for public display.There is a tower in the Imperial Square, from which you can overlook the parade ground, where the Guards Division used to make a pose again and again. A proud general like MacArthur would never be willing to be humiliated like this. He must rush over, even if the chance is really only one in five. After setting off, the dangers quickly rushed like waves.When passing through a small island controlled by the Japanese army, the Japanese army on the island lit up many white lights, which was a signal that someone was trying to break through the blockade.

The Japanese army probably heard the sound of the speedboat engine.Fortunately, the sound of the engine of the torpedo boat sounded similar to that of a bomber. The Japanese army thought it was a bomber and thought they had heard it wrong just now, so they did not pay more attention to the speedboat unit. Just after escaping from danger, they encountered the Japanese blockade fleet again. In the darkness, even the outline of the fleet was clearly visible.The speedboat unit was ready to attack at any time, and everyone held their breath. 10 seconds, 20 seconds, a full minute passed, and MacArthur, who was drilled in the lower deck of the speedboat, did not hear the gunfire, which meant that luck was on his side again. this side.

That night, luck has always been with the people who broke through the barrier. They have not been found, but everyone's life is not easy.As the weather gradually deteriorated, the waves surged, and they continued to press down like hills. The speedboat began to bump back and forth crazily, going up and down for a while, going up the mountain for a while, and going down the valley for a while. MacArthur later said that they were navigating in a concrete mixer. . Needless to say, people suffered, and the speedboat unit could no longer maintain the original formation. By 3:30 am the next day, it had completely dispersed.Bulkley spent several hours trying to regroup the speedboats, but without success. The four speedboats had no choice but to act independently after agreeing on the next assembly point.

At dawn, torpedo boat No. 32 suddenly saw a destroyer approaching, and the captain judged that it was a Japanese ship.The siren on the boat suddenly sounded loudly, and the torpedo crews opened the torpedo launch cover, thinking that they would give it a shot anyway. The moment the captain issued the launch command, the "Japanese ship" turned on its lights, and the semaphore soldiers hurriedly shouted after seeing it: "Torpedo boat, your own boat!" Not only his own boat, but also the most important one among his own boats - the No. 41 boat that MacArthur took! The officers and soldiers of the No. 32 torpedo boat were terrified.Fortunately, there was no launch, but because the No. 32 boat was also preparing to flee when it was preparing to fight, in order to reduce the load on the ship, the spare fuel was thrown into the sea.When the speedboats rendezvoused again, boat No. 32 was running out of fuel.

One could not be opened, and the other one did not show up for a long time. In order to avoid long nights and dreams, MacArthur made an impromptu decision to transfer the crew of No. 32 boats to the other two fast boats and set off immediately. Due to too many people, the two speedboats were packed to the brim, and the cabin was like a steamer. MacArthur almost fainted from the heat. During the march, a battleship came oncoming, just like the No. 32 boat had encountered, except that it was no longer "own boat", but a genuine Japanese ship - a Japanese cruiser on patrol !