Happy Tycoon

Rabaul is located on the Gazelle Peninsula at the northeastern tip of New Britain, surrounded by Blanche Bay and facing Simpsons Bay to the south.

When it comes to Rabaul, what people think of the most is not that the city is the largest city on the island of New Britain, but the brutal history of war that the city has experienced.

After the Australian Style docked at the pier in Rabaul, Yang Jing and his party disembarked, and William Howard, the captain, took the initiative to take on the task of a tour guide.

Just like the brutal battles that this city experienced, even though this city was once destroyed by a volcano, you can still see in this city the military forts built by the Japanese and those left over from the US-Japan War. Mark of.

William Howard is very familiar with Rabaul, and when they were docked at the pier, the sun was still hanging in the western sky, so Yang Jing decided to visit the city first and then have dinner and stay. William Howard naturally acted as a tour guide.

In 1910, the Germans first filled the mangrove swamp in New Britain to build a town and named it the town of Rabaul, which means Kuanua's mangrove in the local language. After the First World War , the ownership of Rabaul was transferred from Germany to the United Kingdom, and then became the capital of the New Guinea Territory of the Anglo-Australian colonial authority. Before the Second World War, the town of Rabaul was established as a local base.

After walking out of the pier, William Howard began to introduce the history of the city to Yang Jing and his party.

Have you seen these half-buried military fortresses? These military fortresses were left behind by the Japanese. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and expanded the war of aggression against China into the Pacific War. Rabaul also became the target of the Japanese army. So 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 on a large scale. The battle of Baul began, tens of thousands of Japanese marines landed in Rabaul, the Australian army was defeated, and the Japanese completely occupied the surrounding islands based on Rabaul.”

Captain Howard, why are you so familiar with this place? Guo Xiaoxiang asked curiously.

The captain smiled and said: I'm not familiar with it. I grew up here. My grandfather was an officer stationed here after the Japanese surrendered. My father was born here, and so was I. Born and raised here.

After a pause, Captain Howard continued: It's a pity that a volcanic eruption more than 20 years ago almost destroyed this city. Otherwise, we can see more military facilities left over from World War II. .”

After feeling a little bit emotional, the captain continued to introduce: After the Battle of Rabaul, the Eighth Front Army of the Japanese, under the leadership of Army General Jun Imamura, built Rabaul into a stronger military base. The naval ship With Rabaul as the center, various forces such as ships, naval aviation and army aviation attacked the surrounding Allied forces and lines of communication. The Japanese army dug nearly 100 kilometers of criss-cross tunnels in the Rabaul area as air-raid shelters to avoid Allied aerial bombardment. By the end of 1942, there were some 110,000 Japanese troops stationed at Rabaul and over 40,000 more on the surrounding islands.

So many people? The Japanese seem to be very worried that this place will be taken back by the Allied forces. Liu Zhaoming said from the side.

Yeah, Rabaul is not a big place, but its strategic location is very important. It's a pity that the Japanese value Rabaul very much, but for Americans, Rabaul is not so important. You know that the United States What is one's view on the Pacific War?

Yang Jing and the others shook their heads.

Howard said with a smile: In the eyes of Americans, the so-called Pacific War is just a 'trip to Tokyo' in the eyes of Americans, except that MacArthur set off from Australia with the army, and Nimitz set off from Hawaii with the navy. That’s all. The U.S. Army and Navy also quarreled on the way, and there were big quarrels and minor quarrels every day. The content of the quarrels was just about which way to go and who would lead the way. As for the goal of the entire operation—occupying Tokyo, it never happened. There was a quarrel.

It's just that no matter which way the U.S. military goes, no matter who leads the way, the nail of Rabaul must be pulled out. MacArthur was going to borrow an aircraft carrier from Nimitz to attack Rabaul by himself before Guadalcanal began. The Miz certainly wouldn't let MacArthur go over the line. That's why the Battle of the Solomon Islands broke out here.

Yang Jing asked: In the beginning, the US military must have suffered a big loss in Rabaul, right?

Howard nodded and said: Yes, as the most important military base of the US military in the Southwest Pacific, Rabaul is an important base that MacArthur must take from the very beginning. However, when the US military is fighting within 50 to 100 kilometers of the coastline It can be said to be invincible, but leaving the coastline and entering the mountains, the US military's advantages in firepower and mobility suddenly disappeared. At that time, the US military did not realize this, so they ate when they first attacked Rabaul. No small loss. During the entire Solomon Islands campaign, the U.S. military lost nearly 10,000 people, and no less than 3,000 corpses were left in Rabaul alone. However, the Japanese were not without losses, and ordinary Japanese soldiers also suffered losses. Forget it, even Yamamoto Fifty-Six, who planned the Pacific War with one hand, was finally shot down by the Americans on Bougainville Island after taking off from Rabaul Airport on April 18, 1943.

Later, the U.S. military realized that it was not the right thing to attack Rabaul like this, so MacArthur and Nimitz adopted the 'leapfrog tactic', and finally skipped Rabaul to attack other Japanese military bases in the Pacific Ocean , and finally relied on the deterrence of the two atomic bombs to completely defeat Japan, and then when the Japanese army stationed in Rabaul led by Imamurato surrendered, the number of Japanese troops stationed in the Solomon Islands alone was still as high as 140,000.”

Yang Jing nodded. Thanks to living in the age of information explosion, he knew a little bit about the Pacific War, Captain, if MacArthur still insisted on attacking Rabaul at that time, I am afraid that the number of casualties of the US military would be as high as Isn't it more than that?

Howard nodded and said: If MacArthur had not decisively adopted leapfrog tactics to skip Rabaul, but had continued to storm Rabaul, I am afraid that the number of casualties of the Allied forces would have reached at least 30,000 or more. Imamura Jun is still very good at it, and the Americans don’t get much credit in front of him.”

Guo Xiaoxiang asked strangely: Then why didn't the Americans blockade Rabaul with their superior sea and air power? After all, Rabaul is just an overseas enclave. , wouldn’t that cut off Rabaul’s supplies? After a long time, the Japanese will definitely be defeated without a fight.”

Howard glanced at Guo Xiaoxiang, shook his head and said: Mr. Guo, the matter is not as simple as you imagined. As I said just now, that Imamura is not a simple person. As a general of the Japanese army, this guy is already considered He is a high-level figure in the Japanese military, but this person is different from other high-level Japanese military officers, he is a very enlightened general, and he is also a rare good person among Japanese senior generals.

These words made Yang Jing and the Chinese people feel a little unhappy. In the eyes of the Chinese people, none of the Japanese prostitutes is a good person, and they are all guys who should go to hell.

Seemingly seeing Yang Jing's dissatisfaction, Howard explained with a smile: I am not judging the character of Imamura Jun, but a very fair evaluation of this person by many experts in later generations. In fact, in ruling La During the time in Baoer and its surrounding areas, Imamura strongly restrained his subordinates, so the Japanese army, uncharacteristically, did not carry out crazy burning, killing and looting against the indigenous people. Even if they treated the Dutch and Australian prisoners of war who surrendered, they tried their best to treat them humanely. Even in order to reduce the livelihood pressure of Rabaul residents, it is even required to send agricultural technicians from Bay Island to work there.”

Under Imamura Jun's gentle policy, the relationship between the 110,000 Japanese troops stationed in Rabaul and the local people was extremely harmonious. This made the Japanese Eighth Front Army trapped in Rabaul even if they were cut off from local supplies for two years. It was able to defend Rabaul very well. Because even without local supplies, under the various policies of Imamura, the Japanese army in Rabaul can be self-sufficient.”

So powerful? If this is true, then this Imamura Jun is really a good person. Guo Xiaoxiang said with a click of his tongue.

Howard nodded and said: Actually, there is another story that can show that Imamura Jun was able to stick to Rabaul for more than two years. This little story happened after Japan surrendered. Imamura Jun led the garrison in Rabaul. An anecdote that happened when the Japanese army surrendered to the Australian army.

Several people were very interested, and quickly asked Howard to talk about it.

When Howard spoke, these people were also amused.

It turned out to be like this.

In August 1945, General Imamura Kyoto, the commander of the Eighth Front Army of Japan, boarded an Australian warship moored off the coast of Rabaul and surrendered to the Australian Army. There was such an ironic conversation during the surrender ceremony.

Commander of the Australian Army Surrendered Forces: How many people do you have?

Imamura Jun: Combining the surrounding islands, there are more than 140,000 army, navy, military and family members of the Solomon Islands and the Great Japanese Empire.

The commander of the Australian Army laughed: It's nonsense again.

Imamura Jun: These are all facts, we have brought the entire roster, you can see it.

Australian Army Commander: Where are these people?

100,000 around Rabaul and 40,000 around the islands.

Why can't you see it?

Basically they are all in the underground cave fortifications, and they can't come out if they have nothing to do.

Then what do you eat?

We have food in storage, plus the food we grow ourselves, and there is no problem in persisting for 10 years.

What about arming?

We have an arsenal, we can produce by ourselves, and even the aircraft can be assembled. The existing two Zero Type 21 and Type 22 fighter jets and a Type 100 headquarters reconnaissance aircraft are self-assembled. If we have time, we can also Assemble more aircraft.

In fact, Jun Imamura hasn’t told the truth yet. He gathered all the science and engineering students and lecturers from the Imperial University in the Eighth Front Army and established a weapons research institute. No one has yet said what this research institute has done. I have come out, but I only know that after the defeat, the people of this research institute returned to the original army, and all the finished and semi-finished materials and materials were destroyed.

The commander of the Australian army couldn't figure it out: Then why are you surrendering?

Jun Imamura's face was covered in circles: I don't know, the emperor asked him to surrender.

The commander of the Australian army was beating his heart: The Japanese still have 140,000 people in full armor. What should we do if there are only a few ships and only 3,000 people here?

Imamura saw the mind of the commander of the Australian Army and smiled: It's okay, we really surrendered, you wait at sea for a few more days, and I will inform you when the time comes.

I saw that Imamura got off the warship and returned to Rabaul, and suddenly countless Japanese popped up on the ground and began to build large-scale construction projects. First, build the barracks for the Australian ghosts, cattle and cows. The build is beautiful and the quality is very good. Then build a grass shed around the Australian barracks, which is a prisoner-of-war camp for oneself to live in. After building it, a barbed wire fence is drawn around the grass shed, and then the weapons are polished and neatly placed, and then they get into it by themselves. The barbed wire fence is very well-behaved and honest.

Imamura came to the commander of the Australian Army and said, Now you can move in.

3,000 Australian soldiers who couldn't laugh or cry lived in the middle of 140,000 Japanese captives. From time to time, they would breathe cold air on their backs: Who the hell is the captive?

This anecdote is quite ridiculous, but it really shows that this Imamura is not simple. It can be said that Rabaul can become the only important Japanese military base that was not directly lost in the Pacific War, which is closely related to Imamura's personal ability. inseparable relationship.