Rabaul is located on the Gazelle Peninsula at the northeastern tip of the island of New Britain, surrounded by Blanche Bay and facing Simpssons Bay to the south.When people think of Rabaul, it is not that the city is the largest city on the island of New Britain, but that the city has a brutal history of war.After the Australian Style docked at Rabaul's dock, Yang Jing and his party disembarked, and William Howard, as the captain, took the initiative to take on the task of tour guide.Just like the brutal battles that the city has experienced, even though the city was destroyed by a volcano once, you can still see the traces of the military fortress built by the city and the traces left over from the war between the United States and Japan.William Howard was familiar with Rabaul, and when they docked at the docks, the sun was still hanging in the western sky, so Yang Jing decided to visit the city first before eating and staying in.William Howard naturally acted as a tour guide.In 1910, the Germans first reclaimed the town on the swamps of the mangrove forests of New Britain Island, and named it Rabaul, which means "mangrove forest of Kuanua" in the local language.After the First World War, Rabaul was transferred from Germany to the United Kingdom, and later became the capital of the Anglo-Australian colonial authority in New Guinea.Before the Second World War, the town of Rabaul was built as a local base. ”Walking out of the dock, William Howard began to introduce the origin of the city to Yang Jing and his party."
See these half-buried military fortresses?
These military forts were all left by the man himself.On December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor expanded the original war of aggression against China into the Pacific War, and Rabaul also became the target of the Japanese army.As a result, the British and Australian colonial authorities evacuated all the women and children in the town in December 1941.In January 1942, Rabaul was bombed by the Japanese army, and on January 23 of the same year, the Battle of Rabaul began, tens of thousands of Saiben Marines landed in Rabaul, the Australian army was defeated, and he completely occupied the surrounding islands based on Rabaul. ”"Captain Howard, how do you know this place so well?"
Guo Xiaoxiang asked curiously.The captain smiled and said, "It's not okay if you're not familiar, I've grown up here since I was a child."
My grandfather was an officer stationed here after I surrendered, and my father was born and raised here. ”After a pause, Captain Howard continued: "It's a pity that a volcanic eruption more than twenty years ago almost destroyed the city, otherwise you can see more military facilities left over from World War II here. ”After a slight sigh, the captain continued: "After the Battle of Rabaul, my Eighth Front Army, under the leadership of Army General Jun Imamura, built Rabaul into a stronger military base.Navy ships, naval aviation, and army aviation units took Rabaul as the center to strike at the surrounding Allied forces and lines of communication, and the army dug nearly 100 kilometers of tunnels crisscrossing the Rabaul area as air-raid shelters to avoid the Allied aerial bombardment.By the end of 1942, about 110,000 Japanese troops were stationed at Rabaul, and more than 40,000 Japanese troops were stationed on the surrounding islands. ”"So many people?
I seem to be very worried that this place will be reclaimed by the Allied forces. ”Liu Zhaoming said on the side."
Yes, Rabaul doesn't look like a big place, but the strategic location is very important.It's a pity that I value Rabaul very much, but for Americans, Rabaul is not so important.Do you know what Americans thought about the Pacific War?
”Yang Jing and the others all shook their heads.Howard said with a smile: "In the minds of Americans, the so-called Pacific War was just a 'trip to Tokyo' in the minds of Americans, except that MacArthur set off from Australia with the army, and Nimitz set out from Hawaii with the navy.In the middle of the process, the US army and navy also quarreled, and there were big quarrels, small quarrels every day, and the content of the quarrels was only about which way to take and who would lead the way, but there was never a quarrel about the goal of the entire operation, the occupation of Tokyo. ”"It's just that no matter which way the U.S. military goes, no matter who leads the way, it will pull out the nail of Labaoer.MacArthur was going to borrow an aircraft carrier from Nimitz to attack Rabaul himself before the war on Kuah Island began, and Nimitz certainly would not let MacArthur cross the line.So, it was here that the Battle of the Solomon Islands broke out. ”Yang Jing asked: "At the beginning, the U.S. military must have suffered a big loss in Rabaul, right?"
”Howard nodded and said, "That's right, as the most important military base of the U.S. military in the Southwest Pacific, Rabaul is an important base that MacArthur must take from the beginning."
However, when the US military fought within 50 to 100 kilometers of the coastline, it was said to be invincible, but when it left the coastline and entered the mountains, the US military's superiority in firepower and mobility suddenly disappeared.At that time, the U.S. military did not realize this, so it suffered a lot of losses at the beginning of the attack on Rabaul.Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops were killed in the Battle of the Solomon Islands, and no less than 3,000 corpses were left behind in Rabaul alone.Even Isoroku Yamamoto, who single-handedly planned the Pacific War, was finally shot down by the Americans on Bougainville Island on April 18, 1943, after taking off from Rabaul Airport by plane. ”"Later, the U.S. military realized that it was not the right thing to do to attack Rabaul so strongly, so MacArthur and Nimitz adopted the 'leapfrog tactic', and finally skipped Rabaul to attack other Japanese military bases in the Pacific, and finally relied on the deterrent power of two atomic bombs to completely defeat Rabaul, and then when the Japanese troops stationed in Rabaul led by Murajun surrendered, the number of Japanese troops stationed in the Solomon Islands alone was still as high as 140,000."
Yang Jing nodded, because he lived in the era of the information explosion, so he also knew a little about the Pacific War, "Captain, if MacArthur still insisted on storming Rabaul at that time, I'm afraid the number of casualties of the American army would be more than that, right?"
”Howard nodded and said, "If MacArthur hadn't decisively adopted the leapfrog tactic to jump over Rabaul at that time, but continued to storm Rabaul, I'm afraid the Allied casualties would have reached at least 30,000 or more."
Imamura Jun is still very set, and the Americans don't have much light in front of him. ”Guo Xiaoxiang asked strangely: "Then why didn't the Americans blockade Rabaul with their superior sea and air forces at that time?"
After all, Rabaul is just an overseas enclave, as long as the Americans block the sea and air around Rabaul, won't that cut off Rabaul's supplies?
After a long time, I said that I would definitely be defeated without a fight. ”Howard glanced at Guo Xiaoxiang, shook his head and said, "Mr.
Guo, things are not as simple as you think.As I said earlier, Imamura is not a simple character.As a general of the Yuben Army, this guy is already a high-level figure in the Yuben military, but this person is different from other high-level military officials, he is a very enlightened general, and he is also a rare good person among the senior generals. ”In the minds of the Chinese people, there is no good person in those who say that they are all good people, and they are all guys who should go to hell.As if seeing Yang Jing's dissatisfaction, Howard smiled and explained: "It's not my judgment that Jun Imamura is a person, but a very fair evaluation of this person by many experts in later generations.In fact, when ruling Rabaul and the surrounding area, Imamura strongly restrained his men, so the Japanese army uncharacteristically did not carry out frenzied burning and plundering against the natives, and treated Dutch and Australian prisoners of war as humane as possible.In fact, in order to reduce the pressure on the livelihood of the residents of Rabaul, Imamura even asked for agricultural technicians from Bay Island to be sent to work there. ”"Under Imamura's policy of gentleness, the 110,000 Japanese troops stationed in Rabaul had a very good relationship with the local people.This allowed the Eighth Front Army, which was trapped in Rabaul, to defend Rabaul very well even if it was cut off from local supplies for two years.Because even without local supplies, the Japanese army in Rabaul would be self-sufficient under Imamura's policies. ”"So powerful?
If this is true, then this Imamura Jun is really a good person. ”Guo Xiaoxiang smacked his tongue and said.Howard nodded and said, "Actually, there is a small story that can also show that Imamura has been able to hold on to Rabaul for more than two years, and it is not nonsense.This little story is an anecdote that happened when Imamura led the Japanese troops stationed in Rabaul to surrender to the Australian military after the surrender of Samoto. ”Several people were quite interested, and hurriedly asked Howard to talk about it.Howard's talk amused these people too.It turns out that this is the way it happened.In August 1945, the commander of the Eighth Front, Admiral Imamura, boarded an Australian warship anchored in the Rabaul Sea and surrendered to the Australian Army.Commander of the Australian Surrendered Force: "How many of you still have them?"
”Jun Imamura: "Together with the surrounding islands, the Solomon Islands has more than 140,000 army, navy, and military dependents in this empire.The commander of the Australian army was happy: "Here is nonsense again." ”Jun Imamura: "It's all true, we brought the whole roster with us, you can see it." ”Commander of the Australian Army: "Where are all these people?"
”"100,000 around Rabaul and 40,000 around the islands.""
Why can't you see it?""
It's basically in the cave fortifications underground, and you can't come out if you have nothing to do.""
And what do you eat?""
We have grain in stock, plus the grain we grow, and there is no problem in holding on for 10 years.""
What about arming?""
We have an arsenal that can produce it ourselves, and we can even assemble aircraft, and the existing two Zero Type 21 and Type 22 fighters and one Type 100 command reconnaissance aircraft are all self-assembled, and if we have time, we can assemble more aircraft."
In fact, Imamura has not completely told the truth, he gathered all the science and engineering students, lecturers and professors of the Imperial University in the Eighth Front Army, and established an weapons research institute, what exactly this research institute did, no one has said until now, only that after the defeat of the war, the people of this research institute returned to the original army, and all the finished and semi-finished materials were destroyed.The commander of the Australian army couldn't figure it out: "Then what else are you going to surrender?"
”Imamura's face was full of circles: "I don't know, the emperor made him surrender." ”The commander of the Australian army beat a drum in his heart: I still have 140,000 people in full armor, and there are only a few boats here, what if there are only 3,000 people?
Imamura Jun saw the thoughts of the commander of the Australian Army and smiled: "It's okay, we really surrender, you wait at sea for a few more days, and I will inform you when the time comes." ”I saw that Imamura Jun got off the warship and returned to Rabaul, and suddenly countless people appeared on the ground and began to build on a large scale.First build a barracks for the Australian ghost animals and cows, and the buildings are beautiful and bright, and the quality is very good.Then I built a straw hut around the Australian barracks, which was a prisoner of war camp for myself, and after I set it up, I pulled up barbed wire around the straw hut, and then polished the weapons and put them neatly, and I got into the barbed wire, very well-behaved and honest.Imamura came to the commander of the Australian Army: "Now you can settle in."3,000 laughing and crying Australian soldiers stayed in the middle of 140,000 Japanese prisoners, and from time to time they had to feel cold on their backs: "Who is this prisoner?"
”This anecdote is ridiculous, but it really shows that this Imamura Jun is not simple, it can be said that Rabaul was able to become the only important military base in the Pacific War that was not directly lost, and Imamura Jun's personal ability is inseparable.