Chapter 36 Like a wolf like a tiger

Most of the Japanese troops on New Britain were concentrated in the north with Rabaul as the center, but in the south, they also established some secondary strongholds, such as Cape Gloucester on the south bank. There was a Japanese airfield at Cape Gloucester, facing the flank of the Allied forces to the south-west, separated only by a strait.As long as the Japanese occupy Gloucester Point, the movement of the Allied forces along the coast of New Guinea will be restricted. Conversely, if the Allies can control it, not only the security of the flank will be guaranteed, but it will also threaten Rabaul at the northern tip of New Britain. .

Such an important strategic location is naturally a must for attack, so it is not surprising that it can be guessed.What's more interesting is that the Japanese guessed exactly which troops MacArthur would let him attack. The answer made the Japanese very disturbed, because that force was what they thought was the most powerful enemy in the world, the famous "Guadalcanal Butcher" - the 1st Marine Division. In mid-December 1943, the Tokyo Radio Station began to scold mothers, all of whom were from the 1st Marine Division: "These people who want to beheaded and want to be exiled to the army have now withdrawn from Melbourne and are about to start attacking us!"

In order to conceal this fear, the announcer said sternly: "Our soldiers have already been fully prepared for this stupid attempt, and we will definitely give them a head-on blow. The jungle there (referring to New Britain) must also be destroyed." The Butcher of Guadalcanal's blood is red!" At this time, the 1st Marine Division, which had already left Melbourne, was undergoing another mobilization.The commander said loudly: "Kill the Japanese soldiers, I want you to kill the Japanese soldiers! I want you to remember that you are marines! Don't pull the trigger in a hurry, but once you shoot, you must let the enemy die!" Flow like a river!"

The mobilization is quite characteristic of the 1st Marine Division, and the commander's expression is as if he has a life-long enmity with the Japanese—not only a public enmity, but also a personal enmity.Among the soldiers who listened to this mobilization was Lecky, who was born and died in the Battle of Guadalcanal. The 1st Marine Division in Melbourne is treated the same as the 2nd Marine Division in New Zealand. The locals regard them as heroes who saved their country. The few months of rest and recuperation have become the most relaxed and fun overseas for Lecky and others. an episode of .

When leaving the Guadalcanal battlefield, almost all the officers and soldiers of the First Marine Division were weak and on the verge of physical and mental collapse. Now they are alive and kicking, and they have regained their wolf-like state. The 1st Marine Division is different from other troops, and its training method was very different at the time.Usually, before the troops set off, a person would be sent to scout out the terrain, and this person would pick out uninhabitable places to camp—either uninhabited mountains or grassy fields.During training, people were pulled over by a truck, thrown at the campsite and walked away.Only cold food and machetes are left to the marines, and everything else has to be taken care of by themselves.Leckie once said in a sarcastic tone: "If the commander has the ability to influence the rain god, then he will definitely make the rain god rain."

Even once, there was no cold food, and the "Rain God" made it rain again.Lakey used a machete to cut out a piece of ground on the grass that was the same size as the bed, and then went to the bushes to cut a few sticks to support around the "bed", and finally tied the raincoat to the sticks to make a top. Temporary tent. There are also ways to find food.Leckie and his companions came to the side of the road in the dark, climbed into an empty truck, jumped off the truck after driving for a while, and waited for the truck full of food to get on again.When the truck reached the campsite, they dropped two boxes of food and jumped out of the truck.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened to Marines, and it won't be the last.In the middle and late stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal, Lecky and others frequently visited the food warehouse of the command post, no matter how strict the protective measures were there. Of course the superiors and training organizers are well aware of this, but they all turn a blind eye to it.Stealing and robbing is itself the training content of the first marine division.This division firmly believes that only by keeping soldiers with a certain sense of humbleness and evil, and letting them search for food like hungry wolves, can they improve their survivability in the wild and force them to fight more resolutely and tenaciously.

"Veterans" like Lecky, who are mischievous and mischievous, have become commonplace. Even the commander of the Marine Corps has a headache. He really can't control them, so they are transferred from one company to another.But no one can deny that when it comes to the real battlefield, Lecky and other talents are more like "people from the first marine division"-many people will fall to the ground with their hands on their chests if they are stepped on, even if they are shot in the chest , At most, he would just squat down and tie a shoelace. Veterans of the First Marine Division have a standard for distinguishing "insiders" from "outsiders": those who bleed and die together, steal things together, and suffer together are "insiders"; , they are all "outsiders".

When the hungry wolves returned to the grasslands again, it was impossible for the Japanese not to be afraid. They knew what it would be like.