"Bomb...... It's a bomb! ”

The rumbling explosion shook the American troops on Tarawa, and even more woke up the remnants of the Japanese army who were hiding underground. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

These unclothed, unkempt, lifeless creatures, who were struggling to breathe and die in their burrows, only because there was still a little light in their eyes, and they could barely be called "humans", suddenly woke up by the violent explosion.

In order to conserve their physical strength and save food, they all huddled underground, except for Major General Shibasaki, who had a slightly more spacious place, the rest were almost crowded, sewage flowed sideways, and there was a living hell. Even such a hell on earth was preserved by Major General Shibasaki with great painstaking efforts.

The whole cave was originally a large bunker, and the sappers found that there was a larger cave below during the excavation, and there was a cave that could be used for one person to crawl between the upper fortifications, which was originally intended to be filled, but was abandoned because of the relatively large amount of work, and Shibasaki thought that this was an extremely advantageous hiding place, so he still excavated the top as a fortification, and the lower part was a hidden place for personnel.

At the beginning, it was only designed as a hiding place for 8-10 people, but I didn't expect more than 50 people to come in at the last breath, and I didn't expect that the whole island would fall so quickly -- Shibasaki's idea made the US military cry to death when they heard it, is this still fast?

Seeing that the officers and soldiers in the other hiding places either died in sorties or were quickly wiped out by the US military, in the end, Shibasaki ruthlessly ordered the upper fortifications to be blown up and paralyzed in half, and it looked as if they had been destroyed. However, the US military obviously does not have so much spare time, and rushing to repair the airport is their top priority.

In this way, the last Japanese officers and soldiers of Tuvalu remained in this dark cave.

At first, everyone thought that they could come out as long as they hid for a few days, but they didn't expect the situation to continue, and in the end it was so bad, but no one cared about this, except for Shibasaki, who repeatedly emphasized that he was waiting for reinforcements from the combined fleet, everyone else just stood up and waited for death. But the Japanese army is a very obedient force, and even in such a desperate situation, they can only wait for death before the commander gives the order to commit suicide and break jade.

Their current situation is very similar to that of the starving Japanese army in the late stage of the Battle of Kuah Island, and the only favorable condition is probably only one point - they are not exposed to the jungle like the defenders of Kuah Island, they are underground, the temperature, humidity and insect infestation are relatively much better, and the fog on the island in the early morning and dusk is rich in water vapor, which can turn into water droplets and flow down slowly after hitting the cold cave walls, which can be regarded as solving some fresh water problems for them.

Only one person struggled to climb to the edge of the cave wall, wrote the date in black charcoal, and counted another day, and they had no idea whether it was day or night outside.

The corpses of the two American soldiers were quickly eaten, and after another 7 days, Shibasaki decided to eat the corpse of the newly deceased soldier Kobayashi Masayo, which of course was strongly opposed by everyone, Shibasaki said with tears in his eyes: "This is the last contribution that Kobayashi-kun made for everyone, each of us can make such a contribution, if I die tomorrow, you can eat me first!" ”

"Sir, this is not a way, all of us will have to die here sooner or later, since it is death, it is better for everyone to go together vigorously."

"How many days has it been?"

Someone struggled to reply: "Day 49 ......"

"Wait until 60 days! 1 times longer than the combined fleet requires! Shibasaki reluctantly gave an order, "If they don't come by then, we'll crush the jade together!" ”

Relying on Kobayashi's "contribution", this group of people suffered for several more days, but in despair people died every day, and when the bomb fell, there were only 33 people left in the entire cave.

"Sir, the fleet is coming, here ......" The violent explosion was like a shot in the arm for their collective efforts, and some people shouted excitedly, and after a moment they choked from excessive excitement.

"Hold on, everybody, and we'll be able to go out soon, but it may have to wait for the last few days." Although Shibasaki's physical condition was also very bad, his mind was unexpectedly calm and clear, "There are American defenders on the island, this should be the fleet's early fire attack, and it will take a few days to really seize the island." Gentlemen, hold on, the dawn is just around the corner! ”

Everyone nodded, and even the eyes of a few people who were dying suddenly widened, as if they were returning to the light.

In the next two days, the possibility of the fleet attacking the island became more and more obvious, because the roar of the island was resounding, and the movement of the American army rushing to repair the fortifications like crazy was everywhere.

On 3 September, the Japanese and American aircraft carrier formations marched at full speed toward Tarawa, and both sides divided the offensive forces into two groups, with Nimitz putting six escort aircraft carriers in front and letting the carrier group shrink behind. Now the U.S. defenders of Tarawa greeted them with anti-aircraft guns when they saw the 4-round bombers, regardless of whether they were friends or foes, but their accuracy was too poor, and the air defense effect was very bad. The effect of the air raid on the Japanese heavy bomber formation was actually average, but Hori Yoshichi only wanted to suppress the construction of the airfield and disrupt the rhythm of the US military, and by the way, he did not have high expectations for the results of the air raid.

Now stranded on Tarawa Island, the USS North Carolina has become the most visible landmark, attracting the attention of the Japanese army every day. Both sides think that the other is difficult to deal with, but for some reason they have to fight again.

On the afternoon of September 4, the fleets entered the 500-kilometer air defense circle of Tarawa, with the Japanese guerrilla fleet in the west and the headquarters of the combined fleet in the south; The US decoy fleet is in the east, and the main force of the Pacific Fleet is in the northeast. Like the eye of a giant typhoon, Tarawa may seem silent, but the day of the storm is getting closer.

As the minutes passed, Horiyoshi methodically gave the orders to attack:

1. Tuvalu's land-based aviation forces continue to suppress the Tarawa airport and prevent the US military from effectively using it;

2. The artillery fleet advanced at a normal speed, and launched an artillery bombardment of the island at dawn on September 5 to lure the US aircraft carrier formation to be exposed;

3. The guerrilla fleet advances at a normal pace, preparing for a surprise attack;

4. The Marine Corps is preparing to approach the landing site on the afternoon of 5 September, and if the enemy aircraft carrier is not exposed, the carrier-based aircraft will be temporarily hidden......

His operational thinking was very clear: to use the seizure of the island as a bait to force the US fleet to appear, and if the enemy fleet did not come, a feint would turn into a strong attack to seize the island; If the enemy fleet arrives, the priority is adjusted to attack the enemy fleet first, and then take the island after the victory is won. Unlike the Battle of Midway, where Yamamoto Isoroku led the battleship force to watch the battle from behind, this time Horikichi directly pressed the battleship to the front line. Forcing Nimitz to make a choice: either fight the Combined Fleet hard, or obediently surrender Tarawa to the sidelines.

On the whole, the siege of the island was an application of traditional Japanese thinking: the headquarters of the Combined Fleet was the sword that Horiyoshi was ready to open and close, and the guerrilla fleet was the rib that he was prepared to use for a fatal sword.

At the same time, Nimitz was also intensively preparing a combat plan.

"Judging from the fact that Tarawa has been attacked for several days, the Japanese attack is imminent, although the specific scope of the enemy is not known at present, I think that the enemy army is likely to launch a landing campaign tomorrow, and our army A Fleet will launch an attack on the inshore fleet after the enemy attack and disturbance, and land at the Tarawa airport after the attack is completed......"

Flotilla A was a decoy fleet prepared by Nimitz, consisting of 6 escort carriers and a group of destroyers, with a total of 178 aircraft.

Nimitz had just said something when he was interrupted by Major General Giffen: "Sir, the Tarawa airport cannot land, they are under a new round of air strikes......"

"Damn, when will it be fixed?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Nimitz couldn't help but laugh: the existing air defense forces in Tarawa were completely insufficient, and the airfield was bombed and repaired every day, and it was useless. As soon as he thought of this, he was resentful of the stupid Major Mike: not to mention the loss of Tuvalu, leaving so many army bombers, fuel and bombs for the Japanese army, it was simply financing the enemy.

Halsey sighed: "If it really doesn't work on the day of the war, then the risk of the A fleet will be much greater." ”

According to his original idea, Fleet A can leave the scene after the carrier-based aircraft are released, and this batch of carrier-based aircraft released from a long distance will first go to the airfield on the island to land and replenish, and then deal with the Japanese ships again, so that no matter what the carrier-based aircraft can become, the risk of exposure to the fleet will be much smaller, and even if the escort aircraft carriers are not valuable, the domestic accumulation of escort aircraft carriers for the Azores campaign is going crazy. Admiral Kim is glad that he will not be able to transfer the escort aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet, but they can no longer add to the domestic blockage.

Giffen said something that made everyone helpless: "Actually, I suddenly feel that there is a big problem with your shuttle bombing method today......

Nimitz looked up, a little puzzled, not understanding why Giffen had suddenly said that.

"Flying carrier-based aircraft from 600 kilometers away can certainly avoid the Japanese attack, but I'm afraid that the rookies on Fleet A won't be able to find Tarawa after 600 kilometers." Giffen's tone was very sad, "I don't know if the two commanders have noticed, last time we reported a total of 54 aircraft damaged, except for more than 10 planes shot down by anti-aircraft fire, the rest are all the baskets poked by this batch of rookies when they landed - this level is still medium in China, and the new additions can be imagined what kind of goods they are." Let them take off and land from 600 kilometers away and then fight, I am afraid that they will lose at least half of them before they fight. ”

Halsey was speechless about this, and Giffen had no incentive to refute it. After the reinforcement of the Langley in the Pacific direction, there are a total of 11 escort aircraft carriers, except for 3 for daily transportation line escort, a total of 8 can be transferred and concentrated to the maximum extent, but the reason why the A fleet is only concentrated 6 is because a group of pilots were killed or injured after the last battle, and then the pilots who are obviously not good enough were left in Pearl Harbor to continue training, and the aircraft on the three regular aircraft carriers of the B fleet were gathered together and more than 10 reserve pilots were left, and the escort aircraft carriers could only gather the pilot force of 6 aircraft carriers.

Nimitz gritted his teeth and said, "Come closer, release 100 nautical miles - it won't be impossible to find the north......" (To be continued. )