Chapter 37 Laozi is number one in the world

MacArthur has unified all the U.S. Army in the Southwest Theater, including Eickelberg's troops, into the Sixth Army, commonly known as the "Poplar Army", and the First Marine Division is also a member of the "Poplar Army". Kenny, who commanded the Southwest Air Force, was MacArthur's right-hand man. Of course, he hoped that there would be such a man in the army. For this reason, he asked Marshall for General Kruger and appointed Kruger as the commander of the Sixth Army. Kruger had a higher rank and more seniority than Eickelberg.In the U.S. Army, Kruger is a very special and rare figure. The reason is that he did not go to West Point Military Academy for a day, and he was still a German immigrant. He was only a private when he joined the U.S. Army.

Without a prestigious school degree, and without a prominent background, starting from a small soldier and eventually becoming a general, it all depends on a kind of American-style self-struggle and perseverance.MacArthur described the characteristics of Kruger's commanding operations in this way: "Swift and accurate in attack, tenacious and decisive in defense, humble and restrained in victory, I don't know what will happen to him when he fails, because he has never lost a battle!" In fact, MacArthur and the victorious general were old friends and colleagues before the war. When MacArthur was the chief of staff of the army, Kruger was the director of combat planning. The two knew each other well and were old partners.

Before Kruger came to Australia, he was already well-known, but he was only a novice in the Pacific battlefield and amphibious landing operations, so the series of actions of the First Marine Division were even ahead of their superiors. The First Marine Division is a fairly independent unit that believes that "Lao Tzu is number one in the world".An officer who had just been transferred from the United States to the 1st Marine Division felt deeply about this, and commented: "The 1st Division thinks they are the entire Marine Corps." As early as knowing that it might be sent to Gloucester Point, the Military Intelligence Department of the First Marine Division sent an amphibious reconnaissance team to sneak into Gloucester Point three times to conduct reconnaissance under the cover of darkness.Scouts sometimes stay in the jungle for one night, and sometimes they stay for as many as 11 days.They not only made surveying maps of Japanese fortifications and roads, but also made contact with local natives who were inclined to the US military.

This kind of reconnaissance method is very characteristic of the First Marine Division, and they all walk on the tip of the knife.When the reconnaissance team went there, they took a torpedo boat, and when they came back, they could only go ashore by rowing a rubber raft. Once they encountered a well-equipped Japanese barge by accident, and the two sides exchanged fierce fire, and they almost couldn't come back. According to the information collected by the Military Intelligence Service, the total number of Japanese troops on the island of New Britain is about 80,000, of which at least 6,000 to 8,000 are stationed at Gloucester Point, and the commander is Major General Matsuda Yan.

Compared with the 6,000 to 8,000 people, the area Matsuda had to defend was too large, which forced him to adopt a highly fluid defense system.The amphibious reconnaissance team found that Matsuda had fortifications on all possible landing beaches. There were too many fortifications, so the Japanese troops in the fortifications were rarely able to achieve full deployment, so Matsuda adopted another method.He set up his command post and supply base on a high ground not far from the inland. The intelligence collected by the 1st Marine Division provided the basis for the decision-making of the group army.Kruger decided to launch a feint landing to draw Matsuda's Mobile Reserve in that direction.

On the morning of December 15, Kruger drew a cavalry regiment (just a designation, no longer equipped with horses) from the "Poplar Troops", landed from the beach on the south coast of New Britain Island, and headed for the local Alavi Airport. But Matsuda was not fooled, he never sent a single soldier.The Allawi Airport occupied by the U.S. military is only a miniature military airport. It was blown into ruins by Allied planes long ago. It is not only expensive but also meaningless to guard such a shabby thing.The cavalry regiment had to withdraw to the beachhead on the coast, and the operation effectively failed.

It was the Air Force that played the most helpful role in the landing of the First Marine Division.Relying on new air bases such as Bougainville in the South Pacific, the "Cactus Air Force" and Kenny's Fifth Air Force jointly attacked and bombed the Japanese airfield in New Britain, making it impossible for Japanese planes to attack the US military during the landing period. Fleets and beachheads. Such aerial attacks became more frequent as the landing date approached.In the final stage of preparation, except for daytime bombing, at least one B-24 circled over the main Japanese airport all night every day, throwing bombs while circling, with an average of one bomb every six minutes. It doesn't matter, just want to break the opponent's nerves, so that the Japanese army can't sleep peacefully all night.

On December 24, the 1st Marine Division spent Christmas Eve on the beach, and then boarded the transport ship and headed across the Channel to New Britain. At dawn on December 26, the coast of New Britain revealed its gray and black outline, and MacArthur's "smart combat" also officially surfaced. The Seventh Fleet of the Southwest Theater, which escorted the landing formation, began to provide fire support.The Seventh Fleet is the weakest of the U.S. Pacific Fleets. Its scale cannot be compared with the Fifth Fleet in the Central Pacific, or even the Third Fleet in the South Pacific. However, the one-and-a-half-hour bombardment can still be regarded as overwhelming. .The gunfire seemed to flow from the ship instead of jumping out, a mass of restless orange flames, disappearing one after another in the billowing smoke.

After dawn, the marines standing on the deck finally saw the true face of Cape Gloucester.