My own war game

Chapter 242: Aircraft Carriers to Withdraw
By 1942, Korea had been under Japanese colonial control for 32 years. At this time, most of the adult labor force in Korea had grown up under Japanese rule.

Therefore, the Japanese army had already begun recruiting soldiers in Korea before launching a large-scale invasion in East Asia.

There are two types of conscription: one is to form a combat division with a small number of junior officers sent from Japan as the backbone, and mainly Korean soldiers. (19th Division and 20th Division)

The Korean soldiers in these divisions basically had the standard rations of the Japanese Army. Except that they were more discriminated against by other Japanese soldiers and abused by their superiors more frequently, their overall treatment was not much different from that of other Japanese divisions.

The other part was more miserable. They were "engineers" recruited by the Japanese army through half deception and half force. To put it bluntly, they were forced to do hard labor.

These so-called "engineers" will not be issued weapons. Instead, they will be supervised by special personnel, perform high-intensity labor every day, eat the worst food and have almost no medical treatment.

These people were used as consumables by the Japanese army.

"Everyone! On behalf of the United States of America, I promise you! We will not kill you. On the contrary, we will give you food and refugee treatment! What awaits you is only a safe place to live! If you are willing to work for us, we will pay you!"

A second lieutenant used a loud speaker to speak to the crowd, but the North Korean laborers remained indifferent and instead looked even more frightened.

"What's going on? Are these guys stupid?" the major general asked He Chi in confusion.

"General, you may not know the reputation of the Japanese army using labor in the East." He Chi explained with a heavy expression, "In my country, the Japanese army often uses various promises to trick laborers into serving them, and then massacres them after completing the work."

"You mean these laborers think we will treat them the same way?" the major general suddenly realized.

"Yes, that's right." He Chi's face didn't look good at this time.

"This is troublesome. Do you have any solution?" asked the major general.

He Chi rubbed his chin and said, "Let's lower the conditions to a level they can accept."

Then he told the lieutenant who had just spoken, "Say it again, we can accommodate them, but the condition is that these people have to participate in the labor and continue to repair the airport. They will not be paid, but we will let them fill their stomachs every day."

"They are not prisoners of war. Isn't it a bit too much to let them continue to work..." The major general hesitated.

"It doesn't matter. I just need to control the workload privately, increase the food ration, and provide medical treatment to those with health problems." He Chi gave his suggestion.

"Who will manage them?" The major general asked this question, which was a tacit agreement.

"I just happen to have the right person." He Chi whistled behind him, "Xiaojiro! Come here!"

"Hai!" Iikuni Kojiro, who was rummaging through the garrison's warehouse, heard the news and ran over in one breath. The backpack behind him was almost full.

"You take over these North Korean workers and tell them..."

"Ha! I understand! I will definitely not let you down!"

Then Kojiro and his men rushed into the group of laborers like wolves and tigers. Under the familiar Japanese commands, these laborers seemed to have their muscle memory awakened, and obediently walked towards the beach under the command of a group of Japanese surrendered soldiers.

"Incredible!" the major general exclaimed, and then asked, "But what are they doing?"

"I asked them to move supplies to the transport ship on the shore."

"He, there are still remnants of the Japanese army in the woods. Should we wipe them out before going?"

"General, my suggestion is that we should seize every opportunity from now on to transport supplies to the island. Perhaps we don't have as much time as three days." After saying this, He Chi subconsciously looked up at the sky.

There was a buzzing sound coming from there.
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On the morning of August 8, just after the 8st Marine Division took control of the two islands, the commander of the 27th Fleet stationed at the Rabaul base, Gunichi Mikawa, received news that the two islands had been attacked. Subsequently, 18 Type land-based attack aircraft and Zero aircraft that the Japanese army had planned to use to bomb the U.S. military airport swooped down on the Allied transport fleet in the waterway.

At the same time, in order to strike at possible US aircraft carriers, nine Type 9 carrier-based bombers took off forcibly even though their range was insufficient, searching for US aircraft carriers and attempting to attack them. Boom boom boom! ! ! ! !
Bang bang bang bang bang! ! ! ! ! !

In the afternoon, in the waterway between Tulagi Island and Guadalcanal, the 40 landing transport ships escorted by U.S. Major General Turner were attacked by a large number of Japanese troops. In the not-so-wide water area, three cruisers and 3 destroyers formed a fierce anti-aircraft fire network.

Woo~~Woo~~Boom!!!

Another Type 1 attack aircraft was shot down and fell into the sea after missing its bomb target.

Because the Japanese army acted hastily, they only brought ground-attack bombs, and the effect of bombing ships was very poor. After fighting for so long, they only damaged a destroyer. Five Type 5 attack aircraft responsible for dropping bombs had been shot down, and three Type 3 carrier-based bombers had also been shot down.

"It's like shooting turkeys." Rear Admiral Vandergrift watched the battle on the sea through a telescope.

"If all Japanese were so stubborn, this battle would be much easier for us." The adjutant at the side said with some relief.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." He Chi pointed to the sky and stood aside pouring cold water.

Just as he finished speaking, an F4F Wildcat in the sky was hit by a Zero's machine gun and rolled down, crashing into the top of the mountain and then burst into flames.

Although the US warships suffered minor losses, 11 of the Wildcat fighters that were providing air escort were shot down by the Zero, accounting for one-third of the number carried by the US aircraft carrier.

The air force suffered heavy losses, but the Japanese army also achieved some results on the sea.

When the Japanese army finally left after dropping bombs, a damaged Type 99 fighter plane crashed head-on into a transport ship on the sea.

Seeing the raging fire burning on the sea, the American soldiers watching the battle on land had a premonition that the next battle would not be so easy.

Their troubles didn't end with their enemies, however.

60 nautical miles away, the USS Saratoga.

Lieutenant General Fletcher seemed nervous at this time.

"Can anyone tell me? Where do these Type 99s come from?!" Lieutenant General Fletcher threw a telegram on the table.

"Sir, intelligence says that the Japanese Rabaul Island Airport has a certain number of Type 99s. They should have gotten them from there..." the adjutant tried to answer.

"Fuck! What nonsense! How did you graduate from military school?!" The lieutenant general immediately interrupted his adjutant and cursed, "The Rabaul airport is at least 550 miles away from the battlefield, which is far beyond the combat radius of the Type . Do you think there is something wrong with our map, or that the Japanese planes don't plan to go back?!"

In fact, the lieutenant general accidentally hit the truth: these Japanese Type 99 tanks really had no intention of going back.

Due to insufficient range, the pilots of the Type 99 did not plan to return to base after the bombing, but instead made an emergency landing on the water of Bougainville Island, and the pilots were recovered by seaplane carriers.

That is to say, after the bombing, they only wanted the pilots, not the planes.

This bizarre way of fighting directly exceeded the upper limit of Fletcher, an American lieutenant general's thinking process and was not even within his consideration.

Therefore, when the Type 200 carrier-borne bomber was discovered, the vice admiral thought that there was only one possibility, that is, there was a Japanese aircraft carrier within a range of 300- nautical miles, and it was targeting his Enterprise.

So he made a decision that made all the American soldiers curse

"Tell the landing troops that we will withdraw in one day at most!"

(End of this chapter)