General MacArthur showered, dried himself, wrapped himself in a towel emblazoned with an Antarctic beech pattern, and lay down on the soft Simmons bed.

The Lennon Hotel (then called the National Hotel of Australia), where he stayed, was also the headquarters of the South West Pacific Force, and was almost a palace in Brisbane. In fact, the Lennon Hotel is large and unruly, with some clumsy, dazzling, tacky furniture, and the picture frame in the hall is a third-rate work by local painters, showing the vulgarity of Brisbane culture.

You'd better not talk about their shortcomings in this area, the briskly, busy locals are hospitable, drink beer from the bucket, and have a surprisingly good appetite. In a Queensland capital surrounded by mountains, deserts and the sea, isn't that also the impeccable natural adaptability of man?

With the floor-to-ceiling lighting, look through the mountains of papers and newspapers on your desk. MacArthur, having disposed of some of his most urgent military tasks, began to read the newspaper seriously. It would be difficult to find another general who paid as much attention to American public opinion as MacArthur. Despite his stiff relationship with President Roosevelt and his political frustration, he was a political general through and through.

Although he was defeated in Bataan, he gained an unprecedented political reputation at home. After all, he was the first to resist the aggressive frenzy of the Japanese, buying time and building up confidence for the United States.

Thus, in the English-speaking world, a wave of "MacArthur fever" was set off. U.S. Senator Robert . Lovelet Jr. suggested naming June 13 "MacArthur Day" to commemorate the day he was admitted to West Point in 1899. Congress overwhelmingly passed the award of MacArthur the Medal of Honor by an overwhelming majority of 253 votes. Not even any previous U.S. president has received such a record number of votes.

When Roosevelt chose William. When General Lee Hai was his chief military adviser, Time magazine was indignant; "If the people vote, it is MacArthur who is incumbent."

The New York Times, which has always kept a straight face, has also been infected by the frenzy of these days," said Douglas. The charm of MacArthur's name is mixed with the Hollywood portrayal of Richard, a loyal soldier. Davis's idealistic overtones. ”

The magazine "Nation" told its readers: "The psychological quality that the people admire most about a leader is the character of a fighter like a 'general.'" ”

Even the veteran Pulitzer Prize Journalist Walter Brown. Lippmann couldn't help but write such beautiful words in a hurry: "As a great commander, he had broad and profound insight. He knew how to inspire and lead his soldiers forward. ”

Not to be outdone, Australia's local newspapers devoted an entire front page to MacArthur's portrait. The telephone number for MacArthur's office at the Lennon Hotel is B-3211, and any citizen interested in dialing this number will be politely answered by the operator: "Hello, this is Bataan."

The New York Sun's reporter sent an exclusive interview from London said: "Since the movie star Valentino. No one has yet become a household name like MacArthur. London newspapers often compared him to Nelson and Drake. ”

Even the Soviet newspapers Pravda and Izvestia published commentator articles prominently on their front pages, saying that MacArthur was "as brave as the Soviet Red Army." ”

American businessmen, of course, are good businessmen. They saw a large number of baptized newborns in Manhattan churches using MacArthur's names, and they were inspired to introduce new styles of "MacArthur clothes" and "MacArthur wax figures", "MacArthur brand sweet peas", "MacArthur brand iron locks" and so on.

As for the bridges, buildings, flower shows, birthday balls, dams, and so on that bear his name. The list goes on and on. Even his nemesis Benjamin Franklin. President Roosevelt also made a speech. Congratulations to him on his victorious breakthrough, his appointment to his new post, and the beginning of the US counteroffensive.

For all this. Of course he was pleased. What is satisfied is finally obtained through longing and pursuit.

Roll over and get out of bed and pull open the heavy velvet tent. Overlooking Brisbane's glorious sea of lights from the window. Yellow, white, and colorful neon lights are reflected in the inky black bay and the stars in the sky.

British novelist J. Priestley likened Brisbane to "Little Miami Beach". In fact, it's a world away from Miami, Florida. The territory is boringly large, with only four or five hundred thousand people living in a place the size of New York.

A small river that zigzags like an earthworm runs through the city. The city had no planning, and only tried to conveniently build a patterned, narrow, and poorly maintained road.

A pile of old houses in the east and a pile of stilts in the west are built as they like. Most of the buildings are boring buildings of the Italian Renaissance era with corrugated iron roofs and lattice curtains. A quarter of the natives are Roman Catholic. The chants played by the organ can be heard all the time. Locals have a lot of self-esteem, so you can't mention that it was the British exiles who laid the foundations for Brisbane.

However, it was this Brisbane, on an autumn night in the southern hemisphere in June 44 of the twentieth century, that its enchanting lights, the noise of beer ghosts in the pub room, the melodious sound of the organ in the concert hall attached to the town hall, and the carefree all-night chatting and dancing of the locals in the villa, all made it almost a wonderland.

During the dark years of war, London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow, Chongqing, Rome, Warsaw, Oslo, Copenhagen, ...... Most of them have implemented light control, and it is pitch black, just like a ghost domain. Even the inhabitants of cities on the east and west coasts of the United States had to pull up black curtains to prevent Dönitz's submarines from being struck by Dönitz's submarines by projecting the ship's silhouette on a brightly lit background.

Brisbane is a symbol of peace; Peace is beautiful. However, the mission of a soldier is to win the war. The thought of this touched MacArthur's heartache.

He turned his back and covered his eyes with his hands, his heart surging in his throat. Don't look at him like a Caesar or Hannibal, born in a general, a talented student at West Point, a knowledgeable army chief of staff, hot-tempered, presumptuous, arbitrary, stubborn, and disregarding life and death. Say the same, strict as a judge.

MacArthur's headquarters also carried the solemn atmosphere of the courtroom, and the staff members were like messengers, and the staff officers were like runaways, and they were loyal to him, and listened to him as if they were God's. His chief of staff, General Sutherland, was also a shrunken MacArthur.

No one wants to break into this conceited little circle, whether it is the Australian Commander-in-Chief, Army General Thomas. Sir Braimy, or the commander of the aviation forces in his own theater of operations, George Brown. Rear Admiral Britt, Commander of the Navy Harbat. Lieutenant General Li Yali was often reprimanded and even scolded by him. MacArthur seems sacrosanct.

Because of this, in the small circle of his staff. Inside the coat of his great man. There is a lonely, disillusioned, self-reproachful, painful soul. He is as strong as a cow on the outside, but on the inside, he is put in a historical crucible and is tormented by the fire of fate.

His successes and failures, his honors and disgraces, his rise and fall; All of them were placed on an island called the Philippines, discovered by the Portuguese Magellan 420 years ago. He was haunted by his dreams. The food is not sweet. Sleepless nights. He said "I have to come back". We have to go back to the Philippines. Public opinion touted him precisely because he wanted to go back. He is a soldier and must keep his promises.

But he had no power at all. There is no infantry. No fleet, no planes. Why did he fight the 5,000 miles of sky, sea and islands from Brisbane to Manila? If he can't fight back to the Philippines, history will turn him into a pathetic, ridiculous, and pathetic clown.

It's not that he is incapable of achieving his ambitions. It would be difficult to find another general in the United States who understands infantry strategy and tactics better than him. He already had a blueprint for a counteroffensive.

Although the plan could not keep up with the change, the original enemy turned into a robe and faced a tougher enemy. This enemy made him feel a kind of unbearable pressure, even if he was defeated from the Philippines, the Pacific islands were occupied by Japan one after another. Neither he nor MacArthur had ever felt this way.

China is a big country that is not weaker than the United States in both the military industry and scientific research. This is the insight of many Americans. MacArthur rejected such an opinion, he was a man who sought truth from facts, and speaking with facts was a very important principle of his.

In his eyes, China is an eastern power that is stronger than the United States in military scientific research, military technical warfare, and tactical and strategic command. Even in his opinion, China is already in the first position in the world. It's just that as the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in the Pacific, he can't tell such a truth.

For a powerful enemy, it brought boundless pressure and made MacArthur's fighting nerves extremely excited. In his eyes, China is stronger than the United States, but its strength is limited, and the combination of the United States and Japan still has a great chance of winning. To this end, he has sketched a lot of strategic blueprints. Unfortunately, his blueprint has not been implemented very effectively, as few as few.

His inaction was entirely due to the polio patient who was more charismatic than him, more ambitious than him, more determined than him, a hundred times smarter than him, and who had unlimited power, a president in a wheelchair -- Franklin. Draenau. Roosevelt.

Roosevelt formulated a policy of Europe first and then Asia, focusing first on supporting Britain and Russia in defeating Hitler's Germany, and then turning to China. This was the correct strategy that could not be assailed, but MacArthur believed that it should be the opposite: China first, then Germany.

Since two years ago, one of General MacArthur's lieutenants, now commander-in-chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, Dwight D. After General Vinsonhower's landing in North Africa, the U.S. industrial system, which had just embarked on the wartime track, continued to send arms to the North African Expeditionary Force.

Due to the defeat of the U.S. Second Army at the Kasseline Pass in Tunisia, a brilliant general appeared in the desert of North Africa. General Patton. The arrogant Patton began his tenure with great invincibility, not only reinvigorating the German army to the Bay of Gabes, but also setting a brilliant record. Patton, together with Montgomery's Eighth Army, put the Afrika Korps, known as the "Desert Fox" of General Rommel, into a trap in Tunisia and Bizerte, and surrounded 250,000 German and Italian troops in one fell swoop.

Public opinion follows the stars. Newspapers, radio, and magazines in the United States and the Allies flocked to praise General Patton, with photographs of Patton's protruding jaw with a steel helmet, a majestic and murderous face, like a warrior in a chariot in ancient Rome, and a living Achilles (a hero of Greek mythology). The newspapers were full of Barton's rhetoric: "More than war." Other human activities are meaningless...... I love war. I'm a complete war freak. ”

The Americans handled the death of this war maniac very low-key, while MacArthur at this time was actually even more low-key, as if the world had forgotten about it.

His MacArthur had dimmed and was about to be forgotten. He didn't get anything. He was so pitiful that when the fighting was raging on Guadalcanal, General Vandergrift, commander of the 1st Division of the United States Marine Corps, who was fighting with the Japanese army, specifically begged him to borrow six Mustang fighters, but he was so stingy that he did not lend them.

He has 1,220 fighters on paper, but in fact he has all kinds of fighters, but there is no one that can compete with Chinese jet fighters. Speaking of which, he can also command more than 500 B-29 Super Flying Fortresses. It doesn't sound believable. Only three hundred of them could go up to heaven. MacArthur didn't even want to think about the hardest and darkest days.

Now, three years since he left Bataan to fight in Australia, he has relied on this pitiful force. He has already scored a respectable victory. His victory is compared to his strength. No less than Eisenhower and Patton. His record. It gave him a little comfort in his anguish feelings.

His dark and bleak times also carry the tragic color of the ancient Greek tragedy writer Euripides. He stayed in bed all night, smoking his pipe. Thinking about the battle situation in the past few months.

Five months earlier, China had conquered the island of Corregidor and the defenders had raised the flag of surrender.

Australians were terrified, and they all said: "When will the Chinese army land in Australia?" The Australian Army Command decided to abandon North Australia and retreat to the Brisbane line in southeastern Australia.

To this end, an elaborate and brutal scorched earth policy was devised to destroy ports, bridges, power plants, waterworks, burn food, pollute meat, and regress civilization to the barbaric age of floods in towns and cities across the continents.

MacArthur, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, insisted on sending a brigade to guard Darwin Harbor. He declared: As long as I am here, I will never allow a single Japanese soldier to touch Australia. His image and voice stabilized the wavering morale of the military and the people.

At this time, there was also a fierce debate within the Chinese high command organization. The naval wing is strongly in favor of the capture of Australia; The Army believed that it should take full control of all the islands, resolve the US-Japanese Combined Fleet, and then carry out the Australian landing operation, so the War Department was resolutely opposed.

As a compromise between the two armies, Chen Shao set a strategic plan to capture Fiji, Samoa, and New Caledonia, and prepared to encircle Australia from the sea and cut off its shipping routes.

Before the threat of Australia's occupation was lifted, MacArthur began to advocate the "defense theory of New Guinea" again. Speaking to reporters, he said: "The battlefield to defend Australia is New Guinea. ”

The Supreme Command of the Chinese National Defense Forces also intended to conquer all the islands of New Guinea.

Two high-speed chariots collided on the world's second-largest island, with mountains towering into the clouds and dense forests deep into the wind.

Australia is a super-island in the broadest sense of the word, shaped like a sleeping Bactrian camel with its head facing west and tail facing east. Darwin Harbour is on the tip of its hump to the west, and the hump to the east is Cape York. Brisbane's place is on its ass, Melbourne is on its tail root. 1,400 nautical miles east of Melbourne is New Zealand. From Cape York to the north, across the Torres Strait, a hundred nautical miles wide, you arrive at Irian Island.

Irian is only smaller than Greenland and is the second largest island in the world. Irian resembles a large kangaroo lying on the ground, and like a female peacock crawling forward, with its head facing west and its tail facing east. The rattail part is called the Papua Peninsula, Mirren Bay is on the tip of the tail in Papua, and Port Moresby is under the root of the tail.

The entire tail is lined with the Owen Stanley Range, which is higher and more dangerous than the Qinling Mountains of China. Lae and Salamaua, at the junction of the back and tail. Connecting Lae and Mirren Bay in a straight line, its midpoint is the small fishing villages of Buna and Woona. Connecting Wooner and Moresby, the midpoint is the Kokoda Aboriginal Tribal Village. Crossing the Channel from Lae landed on the island of New Britain.

The famous Rabaul is at its eastern end. There is a small island at the eastern end of the Strait of Vittiaz, and the small strait between the small island and the island of New Britain is called Temple Strait.

Along the 141st parallel of east longitude, Irian is divided into two, and the east is called New Guinea, which is under the administration of the Australian government; The western part was then considered a Dutch colony, along with the whole of Indonesia. At the intersection of the 141st meridian and the northern shore of Irian Island, there is the once-beautiful port town of Holland (renamed Jayapura after the independence of Indonesia after the war).

Not far north of the neck of the Irian kangaroo is a small island of Biak. The kangaroo's head is staring at a group of archipelagos. It is the Maluku Islands, the spice islands that Europeans dreamed of for centuries and for which Magellan sailed around the world. The northernmost island of the Maluku archipelago is Morotai, which is only 220 nautical miles from the Bird's Head Peninsula west of Irian. Sailing northwest from Morotai Island, through the Maluku Strait and the Sulawesi Sea, it was only 240 nautical miles to Mindanao.

Mindanao is the Philippines. From there, MacArthur fled to Australia in a B-17 bomber. If he wanted to return to the Philippines from Australia, he had to complete the 2,000-mile journey with fire and sword.

New Guinea's centre of gravity is Port Moresby. The Chinese High Command set it as the terminus of its southward strategic offensive. Once you control it, you can use bombers to bomb any Australian city and island within a radius of 2,000 kilometers as long as Brisbane.

As early as February, a considerable brigade of Chinese Marines captured the important towns of Lae and Salamoa on the north coast of New Guinea, while the 1st Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division took advantage of the darkness to cross the Temple Strait from Rabaul. Landing at Buna, Gotha and Saranaanda, southeast of Lae. The Pacific Theater Attack Fleet did not stop either. Prepare for a brazen assault on Mürren Bay, the easternmost point of New Guinea.

Mirren Bay is one of the finest ports in the South Pacific. The harbor is wide and deep, surrounded by mountains. Compared to it, Truk and Rabaul are dwarfed.

MacArthur's instincts did not deceive him. He ordered Colonel Bass to send American sappers and Australian infantry to the town of Lamy in Millon Bay. Bath's troops built a fighter airfield and a bomber airfield.

However, the Chinese Pacific Theater did not follow MacArthur's wishes, and they were determined to sacrifice their ...... Climb over the towering Owen Stanley Mountains. Crossing New Guinea from north to south, attacking Port Moresby. The Owen Stanley Range is 3,500 meters high, and the lowest pass is 2,500 meters.

The mountains are densely covered with the thickest tropical rainforest. All year round, the clouds and mist are shrouded, the stench is soaring, the poisonous smoke is filled, and the valleys are vertical and horizontal. Not to mention people, even wild beasts are fearful. There were no roads, no food, and all the weapons and baggage were carried on the shoulders of men. In this way, Rear Admiral Horii stepped into the treacherous mountains and dense forests in order to seize Port Moresby.

Before the war, not a single Chinese had ever been there, and there was no record of a single word. A Chinese lieutenant who returned from Australia passed by there, and he didn't even go to the shore, but only glanced at the sails like a forest and said, "It really looks like an overseas fairy mountain."

China's goal is this "overseas immortal mountain". And MacArthur's entire effort was to defend the port city of Moresby, which was surrounded by lush trees and clear waters.

The Chinese army climbed over treacherous peaks and cliffs, cut down trees and bridges, marched hard from the primeval forests that obscured the sky, and fought against the Australian defenders in several treacherous outposts.

The Chinese soldiers were extremely physically exhausted, but fortunately, the food supply was relatively stable. Although it is tropical, there is still snow on the top of the high mountain, and the cold air hits people in the morning and evening, so it is not possible to light a spring fire for fear of being attacked by the air for the exposed target. The soldiers had to hug each other to keep warm. When the Chinese army crossed the Owen Stanley Range, which they called "Devil's Mountain", they really became a group of ragged beggars, but fortunately these beggars were in good spirits.

Ahead is Port Moresby. Standing on the top of Mount Imida, you can already see the Coral Sea. The white crushed waves and the roof of Moresby City Hall are also covered in high-magnification military binoculars. The officers and men let out a "long live" sound like a sea wave, and the mood of mixed feelings cannot be described in words. They were a group of Oriental Iasons (a warrior in Greek mythology. You can reach out and pick the Golden Fleece that you have worked so hard to find. They are like a group of Ottoman soldiers of Suliman the Magnificent, who have opened the gates of the majestic Constantinople from the Golden Horn. There is only one step left of success.

At the time, Douglas. General MacArthur was based in Port Moresby, just twenty miles from Mount Imida. He had only a few battalions of Australian militia that had never fought. Two of his best brigades: Parker. Cassin Brigade and Harold. George's Brigade was sent to that damn place in Murren Bay.

He listened to the commander of the Australian Army, Thomas. The words of Admiral Bremie: "No army can cross the Irving Stanley Mountains, let alone fight".

MacArthur was singing an empty city plan. Although he kept saying to the U.S. Congress and the residents of Australia: "The battlefield for the defense of Australia is in New Guinea." But if the Chinese army, spurred on by hope and honor, really pounced on the city of Port Moresby. He had no choice but to abandon the city and flee as he had done in Corregidore.

He has been through a lot of battles and knows his danger better than anyone else. Once again, he was in the abyss of despair. He gave his good friend, Admiral Dordeni in Washington, D.C. "The road (the road to the Philippines, of course) is long and arduous, and I can scarcely see its end," Knox wrote. I haven't seen some kind of military turn in my career. I have commanded a losing battle and am now trying to prevent a second one from happening at all costs. If the "general" truly believed in God, he would have prayed to the Lord: "Let the miracles happen!"

However, the miracle did not appear, and his empty city plan was as ridiculous as the last fig leaf in front of the old ancestor of China. When the Chinese army that had crossed the "Devil's Mountain" appeared in Port Moresby, the expected battle did not appear, and the force easily captured the port.

Once again, MacArthur's promise was broken. The defense of New Guinea also became a joke.

MacArthur, however, was not a man to give up easily. With the concentration of all the forces of New Guinea, three American infantry divisions, two armored brigades, plus three brigades of the Japanese army were concentrated. Conduct a decisive counterattack on Buna, the departure place of the Chinese army.

Although the Chinese resistance was very stubborn. The Air Force also quickly came to the rescue. But Buna, who was empty in defense, was still taken down in the decisive attack of the Allies. When the last Chinese soldier was withdrawn from Buna, attack the Allied forces in Buna. Nearly a third of the casualties have already been lost.

MacArthur concluded: "The Pacific War was a war of supplies. Its main purpose is to hold its own lines of transport and cut off the enemy's ones. ”

After the fall of Buna, the next one was Lae. In the event of the loss of Lae, the north shore of Papua will be replaced by the Stars and Stripes, the Rice Flag, and the Rising Sun Flag. American bombers taking off from Lae and Buna will blow up Chinese ships sailing in the Bismarck Sea. If Bismarck's sea and sea ties are cut off, the impact on China's Pacific theater will be fatal, and the entire defense line in the Outer South China Sea will collapse. Although he is a victor in many battles, he will also become a sinner in China and history.

General Qian Sihai quickly made a choice. Any sensible commander, including MacArthur, in a position to make the same decision. Reinforcing the Lae defenders to keep the north shore of Papua was a correct strategic reflex. Whether it is the theory of countermeasures, the study of games, or the deduction of war games, it seems that other schemes will not help.

MacArthur naturally took this into account, and his aim was to resolutely occupy Lae, but he lost the premise.

At the beginning of March, the Allied air supremacy was greatly weakened, both in the Solomon and Papuan theaters. They lacked both airplanes and pilots who could fight in battle. For the most part, the Chinese aircraft reigned supreme.

China has always pursued a "crack army policy" and relied on a part of the professional army that had been trained hard for many years. According to air combat statistics, 40 percent of the planes were shot down by "ace pilots" who accounted for only four percent of the total number of battles. It is completely different from Japan, although China takes the route of elite soldiers, but under the education of China for more than 20 years, many people like machinery since childhood, almost every adult can drive a car, and the whole country is a country of "worship machine (instrument)ism". A steady stream of planes coupled with an endless stream of skilled young men has turned China's air power into a condor in the Pacific, while the United States and Japan are at best a falcon.

There is a very funny joke in the Pacific theater, the Japanese play bicycles, the Americans play cars, and the Chinese fly airplanes since childhood.

Although the United States has never lacked pilots, the reserve is also very abundant. But when the number of losses is higher than the number of production, the situation is completely different.

By June, MacArthur had sent a large number of troops to Papua. Most of these troops were withdrawn from Guadalcanal. The retreat of Kuah Island was a "Dunkirk-style" masterpiece of the Allied forces, with a total of 14,000 men evacuated in three times. After two months of rest and replenishment, the troops, including Kiyooka Nakasa, re-embarked the ship and sailed for Papua in the dark of March.

He MacArthur needed these Japanese, he needed them to fight the Chinese army.

Those who survive the torment of death tend to go to two extremes: one is to despise death; One is the fear of death. Regardless of their thoughts, the imperial army loyal to the emperor always carried out orders obediently, fishing for a Shinto sense of fatalism.

The crossing turned into a "death march" for the Allies.

The convoy was discovered by a Chinese reconnaissance plane in the Temple Strait, and Qian Sihai did not hesitate to order an attack. Hundreds of sorties of Chinese fighters viciously pounced on the fleet, dropping mines, bombing, and strafing fire. As soon as he returned home, he could not wait to reload his ammunition, and once again dropped mines, bombed, and strafed.

Allied warships and aircraft resisted weakly, and the attack turned into a frenzied massacre. Most of the troop carriers and four escort destroyers sank in the Bismarck Sea, and fifteen thousand soldiers were rarely able to set foot on the shores of Papua. The losses this time far exceeded the losses of the 38th Division in the trough sea crossing.

This was the thrilling "Battle of Bismarck" that took place at the end of June, just a few days earlier.

Looking back on the war situation in the past six months, MacArthur also had words of suffering. Now in Lae, he still has tens of thousands of troops, but he can't advance and retreat freely.

He needs a navy, but what about Nimitz, what about the navy? (To be continued......)