On March 22, the US military landing formation set off from Guadalone and landed in late at night on the same day into the Blanche Waterway between Rontova Island and New Georgia Island to complete the landing preparations.

In the early morning of the next day, the US military sent one transport ship and one minesweeper each carrying two companies of the 169th Infantry Regiment to land on two coral reefs in the Blanche Waterway to control the waterway.

After sunrise, the 172nd Infantry Regiment of the US Army began to transfer to landing crafts and launched an attack on the Island of Rondova.

The Japanese coastal artillery troops rushed back. The US destroyer immediately implemented firepower suppression on the Japanese defenders.

At noon, 27 Japanese planes came to support, but were intercepted by US planes and most of them were shot down.

After a whole day of fierce fighting, more than 6,000 officers and soldiers of the U.S. third amphibious combat unit finally landed on the island of Rontova and wiped out more than 100 Japanese defenders on the island.

At this point, Monda Airport on New Georgia Island was placed under Allied artillery fire, and the Allied landings on Wanunu Island and the southeast coast of New Georgia Island are also in full swing.

Generally speaking, the war was still going smoothly, but the tragic thing was that after dark, the US torpedo boat mistakenly regarded the flagship of the land ship "Macauley" transport ship as a Japanese ship, and launched a torpedo to sink it.

March 31, 1944, at 9:00 am.

At the Davao Port in the Philippines, two large-scale two-type boats took off from the sea under the gaze of a group of Japanese naval officers and soldiers, and flew straight to the Papua Peninsula 2,500 kilometers away.

These two large-type boats were respectively riding on the commander of the Japanese Joint Fleet, General He Feng, and Lieutenant General Fururu Manta.

Their purpose of this trip was to inspect the front line and convey confidence and strength to the front line troops.

However, this very ordinary inspection once again turned into the tragedy of the Japanese Joint Fleet.

In March 1910, the French invented a seaplane with a float and successfully tested it, marking the birth of a seaplane.

Four years later, the war broke out. The Japanese HNA, which was founded shortly after, dispatched the "Rawaguchi" seaplane mothership and several seaplanes to participate in the siege of the German army in Qingdao, and the earliest air battle between seaplanes broke out.

The advantages of seaplanes with zero requirements for airports are undoubtedly revealed here.

So under this situation, the Japanese Navy, which had always had to be in a state of wind and rain, naturally put forward urgent practical demands on seaplanes, thus giving birth to a series of seaplanes.

During the Pacific War, the Japanese Navy actually used large, medium and small seaplanes, such as the two-seater zero-type water observation aircraft launched by Mitsubishi in 1936, referred to as the Zero-type water viewing machine, with a maximum weight of 2.5 tons and a range of 1,070 kilometers.

Medium-sized examples are the three-seater zero-type water reconnaissance aircraft developed by Aichi Company in 1939, referred to as zero-type water reconnaissance, with a maximum weight of 3.65 tons and a range of 2,089 kilometers.

Large seaplanes are commonly called flights by the Japanese army.

Among them, the Type 2 large boat is the first specially developed water fighter aircraft of the Japanese Navy. Its full name is the "Strong Wind" water fighter 11. It has a significant improvement in the maximum speed, climb rate, maneuverability, etc. compared with the Type 2 water fighter of the modified Self-Zero War.

The wingspan of the Type 2 large boat is more than 40 meters long and has a full load weight of up to 32 tons, which is equivalent to a heavy strategic bombing. The boat has a maximum speed of 465 kilometers per hour and has ultra-long-range bombing capabilities.

When equipped with two aviation torpedoes, the range can still be as high as 6,500 kilometers, more than twice the level of a type 1 land attack, and even exceeds the full load b-29 "Super Air Fortress".

The self-defense weapon configuration is also very powerful, equipped with 5 20mm cannons and 7 7.7mm machine guns.

In terms of protection, it is also not bad. Due to the powerful power of the four engines, the 14 fuel tanks on the aircraft are equipped with bulletproof plates, which greatly improves survival performance.

During the war, US pilots often reported that the Type 2 large boat was more difficult to shoot down than ordinary Japanese aircraft because its protective firepower was strong and difficult to get close, and its fuselage was much stronger than other Japanese aircraft. It was possible to shoot down only by firing the engine from above.

However, this time, the two excellent-performance Type 2 large boats fell to the sea, and the one who sent Koga Peak into the Gate of Hell was not Allied fighters, but the harsh typhoon weather.

While flying to the front line for inspection, Yamamoto Iroku was ambushed by an Allied carrier-based aircraft, and the landline was hit and crashed and killed.

Then Koga Feng was ordered to serve as the commander of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet and raised the flag on the large battleship "Musashi". At that time, Yamamoto Iroku's coffin was placed in the chief's room on the ship.

With a complicated mood, the United Fleet was at a disadvantage and was unable to face the head-on battle with the US fleet. All he could do was to delay the US military's attack on the Japanese mainland with a "shattered" spirit.

The first thing he did after taking office was to send Yamamoto Iroku's coffin back to China for burial.

In early March 1944, Koga Peak gathered the vitality of the joint fleet and assembled and set up ambush in the Mariana Islands, Palau Islands, or New Guinea, in an attempt to eliminate the counterattack American fleet.

Influenced by the decisive battle idea of ​​"finding one battle" by Admiral Togo in the victory in Tsushima Strait, Koga Fengichi, the new commander-in-chief of the United Fleet, was dedicated to dreaming of a war to change the course of the war.

Because he is a practical person, he also understands that success is very small, but it is Japan's last hope.

On March 8, Koga Fengyi issued a battle plan. Once the advancing American fleet broke into the Bismarck Sea through the Solomon Islands or New Guinea, the combined fleet would attack with all its might.

To achieve this battle, Koga Fengichi efficiently began to concentrate most of Japan's sea surface forces and ordered the relocation of the Joint Fleet Command on the "Musashai" to Rabaul, New Guinea.

"Let's attack together and sacrifice our lives together!"

At 9 a.m. on March 31, 1944, before departure, Koga Fengichi said to his Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Fururuman.

Afterwards, Koga Fengichi with the United Fleet Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Furuman flew to Rabaul on two seaplanes, with the conviction of a decisive battle with the US military,

However, "pretending to be struck by lightning", they encountered a strong typhoon when they arrived near New Guinea. A typhoon in Koga Peak disappeared on a plane, disappearing mysteriously like mh370, becoming an unsolvable historical mystery.

The planes of his chief of staff, Fururuhiro and others, ran out of fuel in a fight against the storm, and then landed on the sea. The crew on board lived on liferafts and finally boarded New Guinea Island alive and almost became prisoners of the guerrillas.

Shortly after Koga Feng was killed, he was posthumously awarded the title of Navy Marshal by the Japanese government, and Toyota Deputy Takeru replaced Koga Feng Yi as commander of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet.

During the entire Pacific War, a total of three Japanese Navy generals were awarded the title of Navy Marshal. The first one was Navy Izuru Yamamoto, but he also paid a prize after his death.

The second was Naruto Cultivation Nagato, then Chief of the Navy Command, who was awarded the title of Navy Marshal on June 21, 1943, while Koga Fengyi ranked third.

The Japanese marshal is just an honorary title, not an official military rank. Japan's highest military rank is a general, but it is only equivalent to the rank of generals in other countries.

Within less than a year, two commanders of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet were killed one after another, and they both died on the front line by plane, which seemed to indicate that the Japanese militarism was exhausted.

On the same day, the Allied forces established artillery positions on the island of Rondova and began to shell Monda Airport.

The Japanese army dispatched planes from Rabaul to air strike on Rendova Island many times, and sent the cruiser "Xizhang" and nine destroyers to bombard the Allied positions on the island.

The Allies naturally competed against each other and launched a fierce battle of life and death with the Japanese fighter fleet and fleet.

At this point, the Battle of New Georgia Islands officially began.
Chapter completed!