MacArthur was indeed considering abandoning the scramble for Kuah Island. The battle on Port Moresby's side had already made him feel dangerous, and the strength at his disposal at this time did not allow him to maintain sufficient defensive forces in both the Solomon Islands and Port Moresby. In addition, he also had to consider the security of the New Hebrides, and if he had been entangled with the Tang Army in the Solomon Islands, the result would be that he could not hold it in either direction.

By this time, MacArthur was able to mobilize very limited troops. At that time, the U.S. military had invested about 45 divisions of ground troops in the Southwest Pacific Theater, of which 15 divisions had been consumed in previous battles. Two divisions remained in Port Moresby, two more on Kuah Island (both disabled), one division on Maquila Island, two-thirds on Rennell Island, three divisions on Port Vila, and two more divisions on the other islands of the New Hebrides. In addition to these troops, MacArthur had only 19 divisions in his hands, and of these 19 divisions, 12 were withdrawn to rest, most of them were not full, and there were many wounded and sick. The other seven divisions were all newly formed units, and their combat effectiveness was low, and they were not even fully equipped.

The strength of the ground combat forces is not yet the biggest problem, the biggest problem is the fleet and aviation.

The Third Fleet has only three small aircraft carriers, and these three aircraft carriers have been trapped in Port Vila, and the submarines of the Tang Empire, which smelled the smell, have already set up two blockade lines in Port Vila, and without the protection of enough escort warships, as long as these three aircraft carriers leave the cover of shore-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft, they will definitely be killed by the swarming submarines. In addition, the Third Fleet only has five destroyers that are old and old, and all of them are damaged, and these five destroyers are all in the port of Brisbane, let alone go to the battle, and it is very good to be able to sail smoothly to the Solomon Islands. In other words, the Third Fleet has practically lost its combat effectiveness. Halsey is still at home with the president. I hope to get more warships, but the problem is that even if more warships are transferred, it will be after mid-May, and before that, the Third Fleet will only have an empty shelf, and a few warships that cannot sail.

The problem in aviation is even greater, having fought fiercely with the Don Army for so long. The US military has already lost more than 2,500 aircraft on the battlefield, including at least 1,800 tactical combat aircraft. At that time, the US military had only about 3,000 combat planes deployed in the Southwest Pacific theater. What's even more tragic is that the 1,800 combat aircraft lost are all of the latest models, and those left in the rear are all F4F and other ground fighters that have been eliminated by front-line combat units. In addition, the U.S. military has lost at least more than 2,000 pilots, most of whom are experienced pilots, and although more than 3,000 pilots have been added, the problem is that these new pilots are difficult to partner in the battle.

The basis of aviation, that is, airfields, was also almost destroyed by the Don Army. Makira Island. The airports on Rennell Island, Tagula Island, and Port Moresby are all paralyzed. There is not even a value for repair, and without airfields, the aircraft of the aviation forces cannot participate in the battle.

To put it mildly, MacArthur was at the end of his rope at this point, and even if he was ambitious, even if he was unwilling to admit defeat, in fact, he had already failed. In the face of the powerful offensive of the Tang army, he had only one choice, and that was to keep his head. Abandon the other end.

With the strength of the U.S. military at that time, he couldn't even do this, let alone block the Tang Army's attack in the Solomon Islands and Port Moresby at the same time.

From a strategic point of view, Port Moresby is far more important than the Solomon Islands. The Solomon Islands are only the gate to the Coral Sea, although if the Tang Army wants to attack the Australian mainland, it must seize the control of the Coral Sea, but as long as the US military still controls the New Hebrides, there is only one passage for the Tang Imperial Navy fleet to enter the Coral Sea, as long as the US Navy is still capable of fighting. Then it will be possible to block the pace of the fleet of the Don Empire on the Coral Sea. But Port Moresby is a direct springboard for attacking the Australian mainland, as long as the Tang Army occupies Port Moresby, it can directly enter the Coral Sea from the direction of the Arafura Sea, and then land in the northeast of the Australian mainland, and then advance to the southeast of the core of the continent. In this sense, Port Moresby is certainly more important than the Solomon Islands. To use a figurative analogy, the Solomon Islands is the fence of this courtyard garden on the Australian mainland, and Port Moresby is the gate of the main courtyard building.

From a campaign perspective, it was easier to defend Port Moresby than the Solomon Islands, at least to reinforce Port Moresby by air after the airfield was repaired, and to arrange for ships to go to Port Moresby after the Tang Empire fleet left the western part of the Coral Sea. However, it is extremely unrealistic to use air or even sea to reinforce the Solomon Islands. Not to mention the fleet of the Tang Empire, even the aviation deployed by the Tang Empire there is enough to block any form of reinforcement by the US army. Of course, Port Mores is closer to the Australian mainland, which is also a natural advantage in terms of geographical conditions.

In addition to these two factors, MacArthur also had in mind that by July, the Navy would be reinvigorated, with several fleet carriers and several smaller carriers in service. In addition, a large number of heavily refitted heavy cruisers, large air defense cruisers of the "Alaska" class, and four "Iowa" class battleships will be put into service one after another, and even if Nimitz wants to do something in the Central Pacific, the Third Fleet will definitely be replenished. If Nimitz can hold back the main force of the Tang Empire's navy in the Central Pacific, then the Third Fleet has the hope of seizing sea supremacy in the southwest Pacific, and at that time it will not only be able to hold Port Moresby, but also launch a counterattack on the Solomon Islands. In this way, the tide of battle will be leveled again.

Through comprehensive consideration of all aspects, MacArthur's decision was very simple, abandon the Solomon Islands, hold Port Moresby with all his might, and use the troops withdrawn from the Solomon Islands to consolidate the defense of the New Hebrides, strive to establish a new defense line here, and delay the time until July, waiting for a strategic counterattack!

This was a general decision of the campaign, and the specific tactical decision was to withdraw the forces of the two divisions on Rennell Island and Makila Island to the New Hebrides Islands as soon as possible, while the defenders on Kuah Island would continue to hold out, and it would be best if they could hold out until July, even if they could not hold out until July. It can also delay the pace of the Tang Imperial army, so that the Tang army cannot immediately organize forces to attack the New Hebrides.

In other words, MacArthur had abandoned the U.S. troops on Guah Island and was a victim of the battle, while it was the U.S. troops on Rennell and Makila that he wanted to preserve. Neither Tan Renhao nor Yan Guozhong expected this, at least neither of them thought of it when the retreat of the US army began. MacArthur completely abandoned the more than 20,000 American troops on Kuah Island.

The battle arrangement has been decided, but the question is, is there any way to withdraw the U.S. troops from Rennell Island and Makila Island? It was obvious that air transport was not possible, MacArthur did not have many transport planes in his hands at that time, and the US military did not have air supremacy, and more importantly, the airfields on the two islands were still not repaired. In addition to air freight, only sea freight remains. MacArthur also had a number of transport ships with a speed of less than 12 knots, but these ships were for strategic transport rather than tactical transport missions. The US military has no sea supremacy. There was no possibility that these ships would withdraw the American troops on the island. At the time, MacArthur needed a ship that could be fast and capable of tactical transport missions. Destroyer. Fast carriers were ideal, but MacArthur didn't have either of them. As a result, MacArthur was able to find only a few dozen staring boats!

The official name of the PT boat is "torpedo boat", which is the product of a new naval battle tactic first proposed by the French after the torpedo appeared on the battlefield in the era of ironclad ships, that is, the use of fast, mobile and flexible small boats equipped with torpedoes to deal with those ironclad ships and dreadnoughts with weak underwater defenses. Of course, the actual combat has long been proven. Torpedo boats can be used as auxiliary ships, but they are by no means the main force of naval warfare. It was only after the advent of the internal combustion engine and oil-fired boilers that torpedo boats were developed at full speed, and many countries at that time built torpedo boats with speeds of more than 40 knots or even 45 knots to carry out defensive missions in coastal waters, and even accompany the main fleet on combat missions.

In the Central Pacific theater, torpedo boats have not been used very widely. A major problem is that this kind of speedboat with a displacement of several tens of tons, but at most more than 100 tons, is not able to withstand any kind of blow at all, and the machine guns of fighter jets are likely to sink it, and in the face of fighters, no matter how flexible and fast the torpedo boats are, it is useless, and it is impossible to be faster and more flexible than fighters. However, in the Southwest Pacific Theater, there are more uses for keeping boats on the ground. The main reason is that this side of the island is dense, and the battle lines (battlefield supply lines) on both sides are relatively short, and the battlefield range is narrow, using the cover of night, PT boats are often able to play some unexpected results. In previous battles, the PT boats accompanying the operation "Washington Express" sank several battleships of the Don Empire (mostly destroyers) and successfully retreated. In addition, the torpedo boats of the Tang Empire (under the command of the theater command, not within the scope of the fleet) also took on the task of patrolling, reconnaissance, and transporting small groups of reconnaissance troops.

At that time, MacArthur was able to cobble together only more than 30 PT boats, and these PT boats were basically concentrated in Port Vila and could be quickly transferred to the Solomon Islands. When the Tang Imperial Marines stormed the U.S. airfield in Port Moresby, MacArthur ordered these speedboats to move to the northern waters of the New Hebrides as soon as possible, and then used the cover of night to withdraw the U.S. troops on Makila Island and Rennell Island. At that time, the Tang Army's night reconnaissance planes were mainly active near Kuah Island, so there was no group of US speedboats that went to Rennell Island and Makila Island for the first time on the night of the 22nd. As a result, that night, more than 4,000 American officers and soldiers on Rennell Island and more than 5,000 American officers and soldiers on Maquila Island were crammed into dozens of speedboats and evacuated to Espírito Santo Island in the northern New Hebrides.

It was not until the night of the 23rd that a night reconnaissance plane (equipped with radar) on a preliminary reconnaissance mission to Rennell Island discovered more than a dozen speedboats gathered near the island. The pilot also discovered that there had been a violent explosion on the island, and the US military had blown up all the infrastructure on the island as they retreated. Moreover, these speedboats only carried personnel and some important materials (such as radio stations, cipher machines, documents, etc.), and they could not take away the war materials at all, so the US military could only destroy all the remaining materials so as not to fall into the hands of the Tang army.

After receiving the telegram, Tan Renhao immediately understood what the US military was doing. He immediately sent two telegrams, one of which was to ask Yan Guozhong to send a group of night bombers over as much as possible to prevent the US troops from escaping.

The second was to contact the Fourth Task Force and ask Huang Xiaotian to prepare for night bombing, but as a result, he received a negative reply.

Task Force 4 was still in the northern waters of the Solomon Sea, and shortly after leaving Lae, the bombers could not fly at all. At that time, HNA did not deploy night bombers on the Solomon Islands, and there were not even many fighter jets, and it was even more difficult to bomb Rennell Island.

At this time, the first task force could not arrive immediately, and as a result, Tan Renhao could only "watch" as those speedboats picked up the last group of American troops on Rennell Island.

Before dawn, another piece of information arrived, and all the American troops on Makira Island had withdrawn to the New Hebrides.

"MacArthur was really slow to let his men escape." Hao Dongjue was obviously a little annoyed, "We are still one step slower, otherwise the more than 20,000 American troops will definitely not be able to escape." ”

"It was our judgment that was wrong, and MacArthur was not trying to save the defenders on Kuah Island, but the defenders on Rennell Island and Marquila Island." Tan Renhao was already angry, but now he calmed down, "In addition, our attack in Port Moresby must have frightened MacArthur, otherwise he would not have taken the initiative to give up the defense in the Solomon Islands in order to shrink the defensive line, and the head office would strengthen the defense of Port Moresby." That's a good thing, at least we don't have to storm Rennell Island. ”

"Then we can go back and recuperate early." Hao Dongjue also had to find a good reason for himself.

"Contact General Yan Guozhong and ask him to send the Marine Corps, and remember to send a few more engineers." Tan Renhao smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Repair the infrastructure and airfield on the island as soon as possible, and let the artillery formation of the Second Task Force come over to control the sea surface and guard against the sneak attack of the US army." Task Force 4 is ready to return, so let's get ready to sail too! ”