The American counterattack began at half past four in the afternoon, and it began simultaneously from both directions.

Both MacArthur and the U.S. commanders in Port Moresby knew one thing that was the most vulnerable to the landing operation was the first 12 hours. The main reason why the Marines chose to go ashore in the morning was to use the daytime to consolidate the landing ground, expand the defensive line, and expand the depth of the defense. At night, the fire support available to the landing force was extremely limited, and if the landing field could not be consolidated during the day, then at night, under the enemy's counterattack, the marines who came ashore could easily be routed. In order to counterattack on a large scale at night, the defending forces generally try to slow down the enemy's advance as much as possible during the day, and make it impossible for the enemy to build a defensive line and consolidate the defensive position. Therefore, the first twelve hours after the start of the landing were extremely critical for both sides.

The first to attack was the artillery deployed by the US army behind the defensive line, the artillery of the US Army. There are three main calibers of US Army artillery, one is 75 mm, the second is 105 mm, and the third is 155 mm, and the 203 mm heavy artillery is not widely used, and it is mainly used by artillery units directly under the army, and in the Pacific Theater, the US Army uses 105 mm artillery the most, then 155 mm heavy artillery, and 75 mm light artillery is mainly used for close support.

More than 200 105-mm and 155-mm guns deployed in several concealed artillery positions attacked almost simultaneously, and the marines who were advancing into the hinterland of the island were hit by the blow, several tanks were destroyed before they could retreat, and hundreds of officers and men were killed and hundreds of officers and men who did not have time to hide were wounded. At this time, the fleet had already left the battlefield and was heading to the supply area, and it was clear that the Yankees had only begun to counterattack after the fleet had withdrawn, and the fleet was complete. Those guns of the US Army are vulnerable.

The Marines quickly withdrew, and the Marine artillery deployed on the beach positions immediately returned fire. The summoned bombers were over the battlefield within fifteen minutes and bombarded the American artillery positions with incendiary bombs. Subsequently, a group of fighters also killed and began to greet the American gunners with rockets and machine shells. At this time, the importance of the fleet became apparent, and if the fleet was still active on the battlefield at that time, then fire support could arrive within five minutes. And it was able to quickly suppress the artillery of the American army, but it took more than ten minutes for the bombers to arrive, and if the bomber group had returned at that time, I am afraid it would have taken several hours to arrive.

The Marines also stopped the offensive at this time and began to consolidate their beach positions. After several hours of fierce fighting, the Marines had taken control of a three-kilometer-long beach position with a depth of about 800 meters. All the officers and men of the two divisions of the Marine Corps went ashore, and the Marine Corps generals who commanded the landing operations had already moved their headquarters to the beach, and at the same time arranged for scouts to find out the defenses of the American troops, and scattered the artillery in several places. Engineers are also working at full speed on a second airstrip.

Lots of supplies. Heavy equipment is coming ashore one after another.

The counterattack of the American infantry began at about five o'clock, and the intensity was not very great. The counterattack during the day was actually not very effective. At that time, carrier-based bombers were constantly hovering over the battlefield and kept a squadron of bombers available to provide fire support to the marines. Other than that. Bombers of the Imperial Navy also appeared over the battlefield from time to time, and heavy bombers carried out a third round of bombing of the US forces at about five o'clock. Under these circumstances, the main purpose of this counterattack launched by the US military at 5 o'clock was to probe and prepare for a counterattack at night.

The commander of the Marine Corps had long been aware of this, and when the American infantry was advancing to the Marine line under the cover of artillery fire, he sent a telegram to the 1st Task Force, demanding that the 1st Task Force must rush back to the battlefield before 7 o'clock at night, otherwise it would be difficult for the Marines to hold the beachhead.

"How long does it take to resupply?" After Tan Renhao received the telegram, he immediately went to find Hao Dongjue, who was arranging the supply work.

Hao Dongjue glanced at the approaching supply ship. "At least three hours."

"Give you an hour and a half to complete at least eighty percent of the ammunition supply!" Tan Renhao patted Hao Dongjue's shoulder. "Go mobilize all the personnel, let everyone move, we must return before half past six, the fighting on the Marine side is fierce, the US military will definitely carry out a large-scale counterattack at night, only we can provide fire support to the Marine Corps at night!"

The supply area was actually about 45 nautical miles south of the battlefield. This time, only ammunition needs to be replenished, and the other supplies on the battleship are sufficient. In general, ammunition replenishment must be carried out at anchorage, because of the danger of transporting ammunition. So it would be better for the battleship to stop, and then get to the side and bring the ammunition from the transport ship. Second, in order to prevent a sneak attack by enemy submarines, it is very difficult for submarines to get their hands on the anchorage, and on the sea, no one knows whether there are enemy submarine activities nearby. But now that the war situation is urgent, the fleet has no time to return to the anchorage, and can only receive supplies in the sea very close to the battlefield. Fortunately, the sea is calm now, and it is not a problem for warships and supply ships to stay together. In order to prevent a sneak attack by enemy submarines, the destroyers were active on the periphery, and after the cruiser was replenished, the destroyer was replenished in two batches of ammunition and returned to the battlefield after the cruiser.

The ammunition supply operation was high-intensity manual labor, and Hao Dongjue immediately went to mobilize all the officers and men, even the fleet staff officers who were on leave. One of the most troublesome things is transporting ammunition to the ammunition depot, which is almost always a physical struggle. Tan Renhao quickly returned to the command cabin and asked the communications staff officer to send a telegram back to the Marine Corps, saying that the fleet would strive to return to the battlefield before half past seven, although it was half an hour late, but it was already the fastest speed.

Shortly after the telegram was sent, another telegram arrived, from Task Force IV. When Tan Renhao finished reading the telegram, his expression suddenly sank.

When the U.S. Army frantically counterattacked the landed Imperial Marines, MacArthur also organized another frenzied counterattack, in which he concentrated more than 200 B-17 bombers deployed on the Australian continent, and caused more than 180 of them to take off from Cairns Airport with bombs. The target of these bombers was not the Imperial Marines on the beach southwest of Port Moresby, but the Second and Fourth Task Forces, which were operating in the western part of the Coral Sea, about 120 nautical miles east-south of Port Moresby! The fleet is only 350 nautical miles from Cairns, and although it is outside the strike range of US tactical bombers, it is within the strike range of US heavy bombers.

At that time, Task Force 2 was to the south of the formation, while Task Force 4 was to the north of the formation. At around twelve o'clock in the afternoon. A submarine of the US military first discovered the fleet with two aircraft carriers. Half an hour later, a US military reconnaissance plane confirmed the telegram sent back by the submarine and clarified the location of the two aircraft carriers. MacArthur immediately ordered the B-17s to assemble at Cairns airfield and immediately bomb the two carriers.

The B-17 fleet arrived at Cairns Airport at around 2:50 a.m., and the first group of 56 bombers departed at 2:50 p.m. and found the fleet hovering around the area two hours later, at about 4:50 p.m. Until the U.S. bombers were only 55 nautical miles away from the fleet. It was only the radar on the ground air defense warships in the fleet that detected the bomber group flying from the south. Fortunately, at that time, there was a squadron of fighters returning to the sky over the fleet after carrying out a bombing mission, and there was also a squadron of fighters over the fleet carrying out an air defense patrol mission, and more than 40 fighters from these four squadrons immediately met it.

The first bombing by the US forces was a complete failure, and it was difficult for heavy bombers without fighter cover to break through the fierce interception of fighters who were not equal in numbers. Although the B-17's strong self-defense firepower also shot down more than a dozen fighters, more than 30 of the 56 bombers were also shot down, and nearly 20 bombers hurriedly dropped their bombs and dragged the injured fuselage back to Cairns (and a few more were forced to land at sea halfway).

The second batch of 68 B-17s departed fifteen minutes later, and this time the American bombers did not take time to look for the fleet, so they arrived only ten minutes later than the first batch of bombers. Then. All the fighters of the fleet are intercepting the first bombers. There is simply no force to intercept this batch of bombers.

If it weren't for the anti-aircraft fire of the Second Task Force, especially the extremely large number of 120-mm and 80-mm anti-aircraft guns, I am afraid that these bombers would have sunk the "Lake Bell". Of the 68 B-17s, 42 successfully penetrated. Intensive bombing was carried out at an altitude of 1,500 meters above the "Lake Bell", each bomber had 24 armor-piercing shells of 250 kg, and 42 bombers dropped thousands of bombs.

The aircraft carrier "Lake Bell" dodged left and right, avoiding most of the bombs, but in the end it was hit by two 250-kilogram bombs. The carrier's armored flight deck saved the carrier, but the flight deck was also severely damaged, and eventually even had to use a recovery net to recover the returning bombers.

The third and final batch of 62 B-17s arrived over the fleet at around 5:15.

At this time, Lei Shaoqing had already let Huang Xiaotiandi's Fourth Task Force go north at full speed, allowing the Fourth Task Force to break away from the formation, and the speed of the Second Task Force had dropped to 24 knots. The third group of US bombers was still dealing with the aircraft carrier "Lake Bell". Instead of chasing and bombing the fleeing "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier.

Although the fighters that arrived this time intercepted most of the bombers, and only 21 B-17s succeeded in breaking through, the "Lake Bell" aircraft carrier was hit by one bomb again. The 250-kilogram aviation armor-piercing projectile failed to penetrate the main deck below the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, completely destroying Hangar No. 1 at the forward end of the aircraft carrier. At this time, the "Lake Bell" aircraft carrier does not even have the ability to use the ground recovery net at the front of the flight deck to recover the fighters, let alone allow the fighters to take off.

"Let the second task force withdraw from the battle, the redundant cruisers will remain, and only four destroyers will be arranged to cover the retreat of the aircraft carriers." Tan Renhao let out a sigh, "In addition, notify the Fourth Task Force." Let them move to the western waters of the Solomon Sea, pay attention to the air defense of the fleet, and don't use fighter jets for bombing missions. ”

The communications staff nodded. "Do you need to call the Chief of Staff?"

"No, let him continue to deal with the supply business." Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment, "Inquire about the situation of General Lei Shaoqing, the commander of the Second Task Force, and ask General Huang Xiaotian to send me a telegram as soon as possible." ”

Lei Shaoqing was not injured, not even his skin was scratched, and in fact, the wounds suffered by the "Bear Lake" aircraft carrier were not enough to sink the aircraft carrier, and it was easy to repair, and there were only more than 40 officers and men on the battleship. But the biggest problem is that the aircraft carrier has lost its combat effectiveness and now has to return to the country for repairs. In other words, only one aircraft carrier of Task Force 4 could continue to operate on the battlefield to support the Marines who landed in Port Moresby. Fortunately, the cruisers in the second task force do not need to return to China for the time being, which can at least enhance the fleet's artillery bombardment capabilities.

The frantic counterattack of the American army during the day ended at this time, and perhaps the greatest result was to withdraw one of the fleet aircraft carriers of the Tang Empire from the battle. But the real fierce battle has not yet begun, and the officers and soldiers on both sides are preparing for a duel at night.

Hao Dongjue rushed over at 6:25 a.m., and the replenishment work had been completed as required, and the ammunition reserves on the ten cruisers had reached 80%. According to the plan, the fleet was to return to the supply points during the day to receive a larger supply after the artillery bombardment at night. Now that the aircraft carrier "Lake Bell" has withdrawn from the battle, the cruisers and destroyers of the Second Task Force can only support the marines with their guns during the day.

"Damn, the Yankees are really playing with their lives!" Hao Dongjue wiped off the sweat with a towel, "I'll give them some color tonight, it's a good thing that the aircraft carrier didn't sink, and the dozen or so escort warships of the Second Task Force are not vegetarians, maybe the shelling is more effective than the bombing." ”

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, judging from all indications, the US counterattack has just begun, MacArthur actually used heavy bombers to deal with aircraft carriers, and did not hesitate to destroy the fleet at the huge cost of losing nearly 100 bombers, it seems that MacArthur is already crazy.

"Prepare the fleet to return to the battlefield." Tan Renhao patted his partner on the shoulder, "The destroyer formation will try to rush over at night as much as possible, and there will definitely be no one who can sleep peacefully tonight." ”

The officers and men of the warring sides did not think of sleeping peacefully at night, and the daytime battle only opened the prelude to a new battlefield, while the night battle was the highlight of the stage.