Chapter 28 very bloody and exhausting

Hyakutake tried his best, even if the U.S. military would seize his Buka Island and Buka Airport.But in fact, Geiger didn't think about that at all, because he had achieved his strategic goal through the Battle of Pifa Fork Road. By mid-November 1943, about 34,000 Army soldiers and marines had entered Bougainville Island, and the circular defensive position was nearly 22 square miles.More importantly, the flat land where the airport can be built is within these 22 square miles, and the problem of the swamp has also been solved-it is not complicated to say, just drain the water in the swamp.

On November 24, the Torokina Airport took shape, and an American plane made an emergency landing on the airport for the first time.In time, the airport project will be fully completed. Under such circumstances, why is it necessary for the US military to attack Buka Island, or to smash the new line of defense that Hyakutake painstakingly managed?What Geiger has to do next is to tamp up the existing defensive positions in order to provide greater security for the airport. The large-scale offensive operations of the US military have become a thing of the past. Of course, this does not mean that the sound of guns on the island has completely subsided.

On November 29, Geiger launched a surprise attack on Keyanli Beach.Keyanli beachhead is located southwest of Queen Augusta Bay, 10 miles away from the current position of the US military. There are some Japanese supply depots there, and the main Japanese army in Bougainville is based in the south.If Baiwu suddenly changed his mind and called the Sixth Division to attack, these supply stations would be very important, so he had to guard against them. Geiger dispatched a battalion of paratroopers and an assault company, and the method adopted was an amphibious landing.In the twilight of the morning, the Japanese army in Keyanli regarded the landing of the U.S. troops as their own reinforcements. A Japanese officer even ran out of the jungle and shouted to the first marines who landed.

Naturally, this friendship cannot be achieved.After discovering the truth, the Japanese army was taken aback, angry and anxious, and immediately launched a violent attack.The strength of the Japanese army in Keyanli exceeded the original estimate, and the American army was soon suppressed to the beachhead less than 200 yards deep. If the Japanese army did not miss the mark, whether they could go ashore smoothly would have to be marked with a big question mark. Now the shore has landed, but the people who landed are in a very embarrassing situation-there is an endless sea behind them, and there is no way to retreat. They can only dig fortifications with all their strength and wait for a turnaround.

The turning point did not come, and the firepower of the Japanese army became stronger and stronger.Geiger understood that the mission had failed, and he could only let the landing troops retreat as soon as possible before their ammunition ran out. Under the blocking of Japanese mortars, the landing craft could not approach the beachhead, so the first two rescue operations failed.At dusk, Geiger dispatched an American destroyer and fired at the Japanese positions near Keyanli Beach.At the same time, the main US military positions on the island also used the range of the 155mm heavy artillery to the limit and bombarded in the direction of Keyanli.

Under the cover of artillery fire, the landing craft finally took advantage of the darkness to pick up the troops.Fortunately, Baitake never thought of transferring the heavy troops from the southern base, and Geiger never tried to attack Keyanli again. The last major ground battle on Bougainville was the Battle of Hertoboping.Hertoboping is a mountain ridge located near the border of the U.S. Army's defensive ring.Geiger considered it as an outpost, so he sent a reconnaissance team to reconnaissance, and found that there was already a reinforced squadron of the Japanese army guarding it. They occupied the upper half of the mountain and slope, and had dug strong fortifications.

Hertoboping had become a Japanese outpost, and the slopes of this mountain were thickly jungled, with many trees as high as 200 feet, covering the entire mountain.Although the American soldiers on the front line could hear the Japanese soldiers walking around, due to the limited field of vision, they didn't even know where the bullets should be shot. It was also very difficult for the artillery shells to hit the Japanese positions directly. At best, they could only scare the Japanese soldiers and embolden the American soldiers on the front line.One American GI was grateful for the useless shelling most of the time: "When the shells land right in front of you, you can sleep in your cave and not have to be afraid of those little bastards coming to trouble you. "

Determined to drive the Japanese out of Hertoboping, Geiger sent the Marines to attack.Hertoboping itself was a natural defensive position. The slope was extremely steep and almost vertical. The marines could only penetrate deep into the jungle and stick to the Japanese army for hand-to-hand combat. Once they gained a foothold, if they did not encounter heavy pressure and Lost, they gritted their teeth and refused to retreat. This style of play is bloody and tiring, but it is the strength of the Marine Corps.From December 12th, the Marine Corps fought for six consecutive days, pushing the Japanese army into a desperate situation step by step, and finally controlled Hertoboping.A total of 230 Japanese troops guarding the mountain were killed, and none escaped or were captured.

With the end of the Battle of Hertoboping, the U.S. defense line was completely consolidated, and Geiger stopped fighting lightly except for small conflicts on the border.Inside the line, a new airfield for both fighters and bombers has been officially opened.This airport is only 220 nautical miles away from Rabaul, and U.S. warplanes can bomb various areas of the Bismarck Islands, including Rabaul, from here. After the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Marine Corps once again fulfilled its mission, and they can hand over the mission. On December 15, the 14th Corps of the U.S. Army replaced the headquarters of the 1st Amphibious Corps as the highest command organization of the U.S. military on Bougainville Island.A week later, the Army began to receive defense with the Third Marine Division, and the Third Marine Division withdrew to their camp in Guadalcanal one after another.

As in Guadalcanal, many Marines fell in Bougainville, and the only survivors were luck and memory of their comrades.At the farewell ceremony at the American Cemetery, a Marine Corps commander spoke frankly: "Although we left this living hell today, I will never forget these horrible impressions."