The attack on Lae was the beginning of the attack on the Southwest Pacific and the prelude to the entire Great War.

Lae is not an eye-catching place, and many people may not find this small city of tens of thousands of inhabitants in Huon Bay, east of the island of New Guinea, on the map at all. But it was a strategic point that the Tang Empire and the United States had to compete for in the Southwest Pacific. … Mobile station N

For the Tang Empire, the port of Lae, as well as the nearby airfield, were the key to future operations. After the capture of Lae, it could be used as an advance base for the Tang army to sweep the southwest Pacific. According to the plan of the Tang Empire, at least 200,000 ground troops could be settled near Lae, a large number of war materials could be hoarded, and hundreds of warplanes could be stationed on the surrounding airfields. Subsequently, with Lae as a base, you can sweep the coastal area of Huon Bay, you can send troops to capture the island of New Britain, you can attack Port Moresby in the south, you can also blockade the Bismarck Islands, and march into the Solomon Islands, laying the foundation for finally entering the Coral Sea and sweeping the waters of northeastern Australia and other islands.

From this point of view, the Tang Army had to capture Lae, which was directly related to the operation of the march to the southwest Pacific. But in the same way, from the perspective of the U.S. military, they must also hold Lae.

The island of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the New British Isles are the northeast gate of Australia, and Lae is the keyhole on this gate. As long as Lae is held, the Tang army will not dare to go south easily, and it will be more difficult to attack the Solomon Islands, enter the Coral Sea, and capture Port Moresby, and it will not be able to threaten the Australian mainland. Judging from this layer of relationship, Lae is actually a key point in a whole chain of defenses, if Lae is lost, it will inevitably cause a domino effect, and finally the Australian northeast defense line painstakingly operated by the US military will completely collapse, and the Tang Army will get a springboard to set foot on the Australian mainland, and form a horn with Timor Island, attacking the Australian mainland on both sides. In addition, if the Don army took control of the Solomon Islands. The fleet of the Tang Empire was given free access to the Coral Sea, and it was also given a convenient channel to attack the Australian mainland, and the fleet could be used to blockade the Australian continent, and at that time, it would be difficult for the US military to reinforce the Australian continent.

The key to all of this lies in Lae, a city of just a few tens of thousands, built on a coastal plain with a mountainous backdrop. Both sides of the war are well aware of the importance of Lae land. So, from the very beginning, both sides were playing the idea here.

After determining that it would not be possible to carry out two landing operations at the same time, Yen Quoc Chung abandoned the plan to land on New Britain Island and focused on Lae, which actually reflected the importance of Lae. In order to ensure the capture of Lae in one fell swoop, Yan Guozhong concentrated three marine divisions, and prepared two marine divisions as reserves. Fifty percent of the Navy's warships in the Pacific Ocean and seventy percent of its auxiliary ships (including landing ships) were concentrated in this direction. In addition, HNA organized hundreds of warplanes (which could only be seized by the marines. Or can it only participate in the war after the field airfield is built) The strategic strike force put in hundreds of heavy bombers. In addition, more than two dozen submarines were sent to the Coral Sea, and a submarine cordon was established. This investment was also the maximum that the Imperial Navy could provide at that time.

The preparation of the American side is not bad either. After MacArthur confirmed that the Tang Empire's main direction of attack would be the Southwest Pacific, he asked for more domestic support on the one hand. In particular, after the support of the air force and the fleet, on the one hand, it began to readjust the deployment of the US military in the southwestern Pacific theater, and the focus of the readjustment was to strengthen the strength of several forward bases on the island of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. At the beginning of the 24th, the U.S. military only deployed a symbolic 2,000 officers and soldiers in Lae, and by June, that is, near the end of the Mariana Islands campaign, Lae's strength had increased to 5,000, and two field airfields were urgently built, and the number of fighters deployed here reached 150 (some of which were long-range patrol aircraft). An army division was immediately urgently reinforced to Lae, along with more than 300 artillery pieces, more than 50 tanks (in fact, tanks were of little use here), and more than a hundred anti-aircraft guns. In addition, the U.S. Army Air also reinforced more than 100 fighters to Lae (most of which were destroyed on the ground by the bombers of the First Task Force), and in the next 20 days, the U.S. Army also successively transported at least 5,000 officers and men to Lae, as well as a large amount of war materials. By the time the bombers of Task Force 1 arrived, Lae and the surrounding area had 28,000 U.S. troops and more than 500 artillery pieces. More than 300 anti-aircraft guns, as well as more than 200 warplanes, nearly 100 tanks, and the hoarded supplies were enough for the defenders to hold out for half a year. Since the beginning of the year, the U.S. military has been strengthening the defense of Lae, building a large number of defensive positions, permanent fortifications, concealed artillery positions, underground tunnel systems, and so on.

At this time, both sides were ready for a bloody battle in Lae. Although the Tang Army controlled sea and air supremacy, the U.S. military controlled the ground and underground of Lae, and the U.S. fighters deployed on the surrounding islands and a small fleet were a big threat to the Tang Army. The battle to capture Lae will certainly not go well. According to Yan Guozhong's pre-war estimates, this may become the second Guam, at least the second Saipan, and it will take at least a month for the Marines to capture Lae, maybe longer!

In the early hours of 2 August, Task Force 3 entered the Solomon Sea and, before dawn, entered Huon Bay. At this time, the bombers of the 1st Task Force had already begun to take off, and the 1st Task Force was not capable of providing air defense cover for the 3rd Task Force, so the 3rd Task Force could only operate in Huon Bay as much as possible, try not to enter the Solomon Sea, and avoid American tactical bombers.

At 6:40 a.m., the shelling of Task Force 3 began. This time, Task Force 3 shelled the port of Finche, east of Lae, and the landing ships of the Marine Corps had already assembled in the sea northeast of the port of Finche, and the first wave of landing officers and men were jumping onto the landing craft. Task Force 1's bombers arrived at around seven o'clock, first bombarding the American positions on the outskirts of Port Finche and then attacking Lae, keeping the defenders of Lae out of Port Finche.

Port Finch is a small fishing port east of Lae, about 15 kilometers from Lae. In fact, it is only a small fishing village with no more than 1,000 residents, and there is only one army regiment of American troops stationed here. Whether or not the U.S. Army thought that the Tang Imperial Marines would land so far away from Lae, it was unlikely that the U.S. Army would want to support Finch Harbor and keep the Marines out of the beach after the shelling and bombardment began.

The first batch of Marines came under the undense artillery fire of the American forces at about eight o'clock. As well as heavy machine-gun fire rushed to the beach. Several destroyers of the Third Task Force were almost on the verge of storming the beach, and at very close range, 155-millimeter shells were used to name the American machine-gun fire points. By half-past nine in the battle, the Marines had taken control of the beach positions, killed the two American battalions defending the beach positions, and the second group of Marines had also landed on the beach. Two groups of more than 5,000 Marines went ashore, and with the exception of some who remained to fortify the beachhead, three battalions of Marines began to outflank Finsh Harbor. The battle continued until four o'clock in the afternoon. The last American troops defending Finsh Harbor surrendered, and it took less than eight hours for the Tang Marines to capture this extremely important beachhead and consolidate the landing ground.

At this time, the U.S. military had just woken up from a big dream, and after the Tang Army landed in Finsh Harbor, it advanced to Lae. If the Tang Army consolidates the landing site, then the U.S. troops defending Lae will have to fight a ground battle with the Don Army Marines under a disadvantaged situation, which is obviously a scene that the U.S. Army does not want to see. It was necessary to drive them out into the sea before the Don army could gain a foothold. Before the evening of the same day, a counterattack force of the American army was organized and began to assault the port of Finsh. Prepare to take advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Don Army have not yet come ashore. Hit it back. And by this time, the Don Army, which had landed at Fenshport, had reached the point of a Marine Division (combat unit) and the engineering corps was preparing to go ashore. to expand the capacity of the small dock in Port Fincher so that heavy equipment and war supplies could be brought to the battlefield.

The US air force also carried out a fierce counterattack, and long-range bombers taking off from airfields in northeastern Australia bombed the landing ground of the Third Task Force and Port Finsh in the afternoon, but they did not receive much effect, and the losses of the Third Task Force were not very large. The damage suffered by the landing site was also not significant. At that time, the fighters of the First Task Force had been patrolling over the landing site, and most of the US long-range bombers were unable to break through the interception of the fighters, and very few were able to reach the landing site and drop bombs.

The U.S. counterattack stopped about five kilometers from Finsh Harbor, and the artillery fire from the Tang Army's battleships on the sea and the bombers overhead made these U.S. troops have to stop. At the time of departure, this group of American troops numbered more than 5,000 people, as well as more than 30 tanks, more than 50 towed artillery pieces, and more than 100 trucks. By the time they arrived, only eight tanks were still operating, all the artillery had been abandoned, and there were less than twenty of the more than 100 trucks left. The Tang Empire's fighter planes with rockets and accurate artillery fire have become the biggest nemesis of the US military, and in the absence of air supremacy and sea supremacy, the US military's counterattack on the ground has not played any role.

After it got dark, Tan Renhao summoned all the bombers. He did not arrange the night bombing, mainly to avoid accidental injury, and the pilots were extremely tired, so that they could sleep well, and it would be better to go out after dawn.

"Let the shelling formation set off on time, Yan Shiqi must be scolding his mother!"

Tan Renhao received a telegram from the Third Task Force during the day, and Yan Shiqi bluntly asked where their air defense fighters were. "At night, our artillery formation will be responsible for suppressing the American forces, and the third task force will prepare for tomorrow's combat operations. We can't let Yan Shiqi do everything, we should also do more! ”

"I think Yan Shiqi must be cursing us now!"

Hao Dongjue also laughed, after reading Yan Shiqi's telegram, he had a very relieved feeling, this ruthless, cold-blooded, general who could have allowed Chang Jianxin to command a few cruisers to resist the guns of American battleships, was there also a time when he was afraid and anxious?

"What do you care so much about? We directly want General Yan Guozhong to be responsible, as long as General Yan Guozhong doesn't accuse us, what can Yan Shiqi do with us? ”

Tan Renhao sneered, "Okay, go and arrange the actions of the shelling formation, and get the bombing plan for tomorrow right, let's do our own thing, what others say, that's their freedom, we can't control it, and we don't want to care about it!" ”

During the night, the U.S. counterattack was not strong, and the Marines did not continue to expand the landing ground (the Imperial Marines would try to avoid night battles with the enemy when they had a firepower advantage), but intensified the expansion of the docks, sending heavy equipment and war supplies to the beach. By daybreak, 18,000 Marines had landed in Finsh Harbor, and two light artillery battalions of the Marines had been brought up, and by this time the most difficult phase of the landing operation had passed, and it would have been impossible to drive the Imperial Marines out of the sea if the Americans could not organize a powerful counterattack.

The 3rd Task Force and the 1st Task Force took turns to provide artillery fire and air support to the Marines. As the Marines continued to advance towards Lae, a Marine Corps engineer also cleared a flat area on the beach and laid honeycomb steel plates, although there were no conditions to station fighters here at the time (no fuel, no ammunition), but this airstrip gave the pilots of Task Force 1 an additional option, if the fighters were damaged and could not fly back to the fleet, they could make a forced landing here. In addition, HNA transport planes have also joined the ranks of transporting supplies, and these transport planes flying from the west will take off immediately after unloading the supplies, and return to the rear base with half of the remaining fuel.

By the 5th, the Marines had advanced to the east of Lae and began to outflank Lae, and after half a day of fighting, the Marines had captured the small field airfield east of Lae. Task Force 1 also withdrew from the Bismarck Sea that evening and returned to its rear anchorage to replenish fuel and ammunition, leaving Task Force 1 with less than half of its ammunition remaining. HNA fighters were stationed at a field airfield controlled by the Marine Corps that night and took part in combat operations the next day.

Task Force 3 had withdrawn to the Sea of Bismarck by the early hours of the 7th, and was also preparing to resupply ammunition and fuel to the rear. At this time, the Marine Corps, with the cooperation of the HNA, had basically consolidated the defensive line around Lae, and the First Task Force was also in the process of coming, and the first phase of the combat operation to land in Lae was basically completed.