Soon, Li Gang led his team to fight with the Japanese search force on the periphery, and fierce gunfire broke out in the forest. Li Gang and his own personnel were unable to stop the Japanese attack because they had no heavy weapons, and in less than an hour, Li Gang's squadron lost half of its personnel, and the situation was extremely critical. Jie Zhenbang received a report from Li Gang and said: "Comrades, if it weren't for the dense forest, the Japanese army would have surrounded it a long time ago. ”

Jie Zhenbang looked at the crowd and said: "We must go back to the depths of the forest from the new and hold on until dark." It is not necessary to concentrate and disperse the breakout after dark. As soon as he finished speaking, the roar of airplanes was heard in the sky. At 1 p.m., the runway of the airport was cleared by US soldiers, and large and small craters were added. Major Mangren personally piloted the bombardment fighter and led two squadrons to the air in an emergency. Soon Mangren discovered the cordon organized by the Japanese army in the northwest direction of the forest and ordered a free attack.

The Japanese soldiers were waiting for the battle, because they knew that the special combat team of the Eighth Route Army had no way to escape and would inevitably break through desperately. Originally, the commander of the Kawaguchi Division ordered the search troops to advance at both ends and use dragnet tactics to eliminate the special combat team of the Eighth Route Army in the forest. Shinobu Kui thought that if all the troops entered the woods, it would instead allow the Eighth Route Army special combat team to find an opportunity to escape. Rather than this, it is better to drive the enemy out of the woods and annihilate them in one fell swoop. The commander of the Kawaguchi division thought that what Kuai Shinobu said made sense, so he waited at the edge of the woods on the northwest side.

At this time, the commanders of the Japanese division, Kawaguchi and Shinobu Kui, stood on a mountain bag and held binoculars to look into the woods where gunfire was dense. "Kujing-kun, the enemy escapes in a while, I will give you the opportunity, and I will give you a bloody shame." "Kawaguchi-kun, the carefully cultivated special combat team is over like this, it was my mistake. I didn't expect the Americans to actually transfer the special combat team of the Eighth Route Army. I demand that the enemy commander be captured alive. As soon as he finished speaking, there was a roar in the sky.

"It's a U.S. bomber!" One of the operational staff officers shouted loudly. Kawaguchi saw a large number of American fighters and hurriedly ordered the troops to hide. At this time, the US bombardment fighter began to dive, and suddenly a violent explosion sounded. You must know that the aerial bombs carried by the US military are all aimed at warships, not bombs for ground attack, so the explosion is huge. Looking down from the air, the soldiers of the Japanese guard line were clear at a glance, and the US pilots naturally would not let go of this opportunity.

In the woods, a squadron leader ran back from the northwest and said happily: "Captain, it is the US fighter planes that are bombing the Japanese cordon, and they must have come to support us." Jie Zhenbang was overjoyed when he heard this: "Don't hesitate, immediately notify Li Gang, we will break through to the southwest!" "When the troops converged, they quickly rushed to the edge of the forest. However, after a certain distance of advancement, Jie Zhenbang suddenly ordered to stop advancing. "Comrades! We can't break through to the southwest. ”

Everyone was puzzled and Jie Zhenbang said calmly: "The Japanese army must be able to judge that we are breaking through in the southwest direction, because our only retreat route is the southern coastline, so the Japanese army will definitely intercept it, this is one of them." Second, we could not advance quickly with the wounded, and were easily blocked by the Japanese army. Third, it is daytime, and US pilots will spot us in the air, and if there is a miscalculation, we will be attacked by US bombers. "So I decided to retreat to the northern coastline and look for opportunities after dark."

"What the captain said makes sense, so let's do the opposite, thinking backwards and retreating to the northern coastline." Li Gang agreed with waving his bandaged arm, which had been stabbed by a Japanese bayonet during the struggle. There was no objection and immediately retreated to the northern coastline. At this time, the Japanese cordon's cordon was useless under the ravages of American bombers, and the north was not the focus of the Japanese army's vigilance. The Japanese army, including Shinobu Kui himself, believed that it was impossible for the Eighth Route Army special combat team to retreat to the northern coastline, because it was a dead end.

In the afternoon of the same day, a squadron of Night Cat fighters of the US military flew to the Kuah Island airfield to serve as an air guard. After two rounds of strikes by the U.S. bomber squadron on the Japanese northwestern cordon, it seemed endless. A deep search of the northwest was followed and a large number of Japanese convoys and cover ships were found at George Ferry. The US bombardment fighters immediately launched an attack on the Japanese transport fleet, which did not have any air cover and immediately became a mess.

At this time, the Sendai Division of the Japanese Army had just completed the landing, and a large number of soldiers were still late at the pier. After spotting the American bombers, the Japanese soldiers scattered and took refuge. When the American pilots discovered the Japanese warships, they naturally had no interest in the Japanese soldiers, but went all out to deal with the Japanese warships as if they had been beaten with blood. After the Japanese cover battleship spotted the US bomber group, it immediately abandoned the transport ship and fled alone. In less than 5 minutes, a Japanese frigate was hit by a torpedo attack aircraft and sank to the bottom of the sea with a violent explosion.

Immediately afterwards, two transport ships were hit by aerial bombs and struggled in the water for several minutes before sinking to the bottom of the sea. The Japanese transport ships fled in all directions, and the scene was not witnessed. Because the Japanese air force was going all out to deal with the US warships, it had to take off fighter planes from the Rabaul base to provide rapid support, so as to avoid greater losses. Then a brief air battle broke out between the two sides over Kuah Island, and the Japanese army attempted to bomb the Kuah Island airfield, but was intercepted by US fighter jets and failed to achieve its goal.

Before dusk, Jie Zhenbang led the team to the northern coastline, looked at the calm water, and found a reef island about 200 meters away from the left front. "Comrades, the Japanese army will soon search the coastline, and we will swim over and land on that reef island. Think of it after dark. The team members quickly went into the water, and two people were responsible for taking care of a wounded person and swam over together. Half an hour later, the team landed on the reef island. The reef island is about a few hundred square meters, and when they went to the island, they found a low-lying place to hide.

Everyone settled down, and the hygienist hurriedly checked the wound and bandaged it again to avoid infection of the wound. Sure enough, there was a Japanese patrol horse team on the coastline, and they searched carefully. Everyone held their breath and watched as the Japanese patrol horse team went away. The nervousness relaxed, and the huge tiredness suddenly hit, and the team members immediately fell asleep. As night approached, the western sea took up its last rays of light, and the waves beat against the reef rhythmically, like a lullaby.

I don't know how long it took, Jie Zhenbang was awakened by a slight sound. Listen carefully to the movement of the propellers, and the sound is coming from the northwest direction. Jie Zhenbang hurriedly raised his head, looked at the sea on the west side, and found a black warship coming towards him. At this time, most of the team members were still asleep, and Jie Zhenbang gently woke up Li Gang and the two squadron leaders beside him. "If there is a situation, wake everyone up immediately!" Jie Zhenbang called in a low voice.

The propeller of the Japanese 510 transport ship was bombarded by a bomb after being attacked by US bombardment fighters in George's Port. Although not fatal, the propeller was badly deformed, and the sailing speed could only reach 10 knots. Due to the continuous bombardment of George Port by US bombers, the 510 transport ship had to take refuge along the inner coastline all the way to the southeast. The Japanese transport did not dare to return to Rabaul on a single ship because it was easily attacked by US submarines. Because Port George continued to be attacked by US planes, they did not dare to return to the port.

At this time, the 501 transport ship implemented light control. The captain in the cockpit, Captain Kumai, was very nervous because he was worried about running into a U.S. submarine. "Report to the captain, call from the base, let's be on standby on the coastline. Tomorrow the fleet will pick us up! A Japanese army operator reported. Hearing this, Xiong Jing put down his binoculars and let out a sigh of relief: "There is a reef ahead, so we will anchor at the reef to prevent the US submarine from discovering us." ”

Everyone on the reef was a little nervous to observe the black battleship, and suddenly the motor stopped, and the iron anchor of the battleship roared into the sea. "Captain, the Japanese battleship has broken down. It seems that it was the bomber group of the American army, which left the Japanese battleship alone. "Li Gang analyzed." Captain, this battleship does not have cannons, it looks like a transport ship. "Another subordinate analyzes." It's a great way to go, and we're in luck! "Captain, you want to take the ship?" "This was sent to the door by the Japanese army on its own initiative, why don't we do it!"

"Li Gang, how is your injury!" "Captain, it's just that there's no problem with scratches!" "You select 10 team members to pedal the ship and quietly control the upper part of the battleship!" "Second Squadron Leader!" "Here!" "You bring 30 members of the team to prepare! Li Gang immediately boarded the battleship after taking control of it to prevent the Japanese from sinking the battleship. "Third Squadron Leader! You lead your troops to provide fire support, and you are not allowed to shoot until you have to! "Yes!" Everyone immediately took action, and Li Gang quickly selected 10 team members to carry short guns equipped with silencers into the sea.

In the dark, the team swam towards the Japanese transport ship, a distance of about 70 meters, and the team members quickly approached the Japanese transport ship.