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The battle began on the night of the third day after the withdrawal of the "Cactus" air force.

In fact, Zhang Chi and others could also guess that the Japanese army would attack tonight, and even Zhang Chi could not exaggerate to say that the focus of the Japanese attack was the Matanikao River where the new regiment was stationed.

The reason is simple, the Japanese opened a road in the direction of the Matanicau River, which was completed just two days ago.

This road is known as the "Maruyama Road...... The reason why it is called "Maruyama Road" is because it was opened by Maruyama Masao. It stretched south from the western coastline occupied by the Japanese army, almost around the U.S. Lunga defensive circle to the south. It is 15 miles (24 km) long and passes through some of Guadalcanal's most difficult terrain, including numerous rivers and streams, deep and muddy ravines, steep ridges and dense jungle.

In normal times, it would not be a big deal to build such a 24-kilometer-long road. In war, there is always a need for transportation and rapid transportation of troops, and it is not a big deal to open a 24-kilometer road in the jungle.

But the problem is that this road was completed with a serious lack of supplies and equipment for the Japanese army, and they did not even have the tools to open the road, and it is said that the Japanese army completed this road with bayonets and sapper shovels, so you can imagine how much difficulty this caused the Japanese army.

But this path is obviously useful.

First of all, this road will make it easier and faster for the supplies, equipment, and ammunition that the Japanese Navy is and will be transported to the south of the Lunga Line, that is, to the hinterland of Kuah Island...... The southern part of the Lunga Line has always been the weak point of the Japanese offensive, mainly because it is difficult for the Japanese army's heavy equipment, ammunition, and food to be transported into the hinterland of Kuah Island. As mentioned before, the hinterland of Kuah Island is full of rivers, streams, ravines, etc., which makes it impossible for the Japanese troops stationed in the south to meet even the basic living conditions, let alone combat shells.

The situation of the Japanese troops to the west and east was much better than that of the Japanese troops in the south, because they were close to the coastline. Japanese warships could deliver supplies directly to them.

This was also an important reason why Maruyama Masao wanted to open up this road, which could alleviate the supply problem of the Japanese troops stationed in the hinterland of Kuah.

Another role...... Zhang Chi believed that Maruyama had built this road in order to blockade the airport with artillery fire.

Clifton was puzzled by this, because the Japanese occupied a large area of jungle, and it should be easy to block the airfield with artillery fire, and there was no need to open a road.

Zhang Chi only asked Clifton: "Do you remember how we suppressed the Japanese artillery fire last time?" ”

So Clifton quickly figured it out.

Shells from heavy artillery are difficult to transport in the jungle, and heavy artillery is difficult to transfer in the jungle...... Last time, the Japanese suffered this loss, and before their artillery could fire a few shots at the airfield, the US reconnaissance planes in the air discovered and guided the artillery fire to destroy their artillery.

Now, there is this "Maruyama Road". Japanese artillery can use it to transport shells and even quickly divert artillery fire, thereby increasing the survival rate of artillery.

"You're right!" Clifton nodded: "All the actions of the Japanese are aimed at the airport, as you can imagine...... Once this battle starts, the airport, including the emergency runway, will be bombed into a pile of rubble, but fortunately you got Lieutenant General Halsey to withdraw the 'Cactus' air fleet in time, otherwise they will definitely suffer heavy losses! ”

After a pause, Clifton said, "Now, let them bomb the airfield as much as they want!" ”

What Clifton meant by this was that there were no planes left on Kuah Island anyway, so let the Japanese bomb them...... At this time, there were only 14 P400s and 6 Wildcats on Kuah Island. Because the P400 was more suitable for ground combat, Halsey thought that these fighters might be of some help to the garrison on Kuah Island, and the six Wildcats were to confuse the Japanese army into thinking that the "Cactus" air force was still on Kuah Island.

That's a total of twenty fighters. Even if you can't take off, stay where you are, and even be blown up by the Japanese, you don't feel a pity.

But Zhang Chi felt a little uneasy because he felt the pressure from the "Maruyama Road".

Zhang Chi's feeling is right, Maruyama Masao built the "Maruyama Road" for more than just the above two reasons.

Maruyama Masao was not idle during this time, he sent a Japanese reconnaissance team to thoroughly find out the location of the Sino-American defense line and sketched it on the map.

He found a point on the map. That is, the Chinese troops stationed near the Matanicao River were slightly more prominent along the entire Lunga defensive line...... This was determined by the location of the Matanicau River, along which the new regiment had to be defended if it was to be held by the river. However, the U.S. defensive line stationed to the south was compressed by Mount Austin, and a salient was formed at this point of the Matanikau River.

So, without thinking, Maruyama Masao pointed to the Matanikao River and said to the staff officer: "This is the focus of our attack!" ”

"Hmm!" The staff officer replied: "So...... Should we move the 4th Wing in the direction of the Matanicao River? ”

The intention of the staff officers was obvious, the 4th Wing was the main wing of the 2nd Division...... Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, the 2nd Division was very strong and the 6th Division was considered to be the most effective unit of the Japanese Army, but with the consumption of Japanese troops in the Chinese and Burmese battlefields, most of the main forces of the 2nd Division were actually reorganized into other units. For example, the 30th Wing was transferred out to form the 28th Division, and two brigades of the 29th Division were transferred out to rebuild the 13th Division with the reserves.

There is nothing wrong with this practice of the Japanese army, because the casualties of the troops of other divisions and regiments over and over again and round after round of replenishment and new recruits have caused the combat effectiveness to decline gradually, so it can only use this kind of dismantling units with strong combat effectiveness in the hope that they can quickly revive the combat effectiveness of the whole army with veterans and new recruits.

As a result, the Second Division could not be on par with the previous Second Division in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness, and many of them were even recruits who had just been replenished from China.

Among them, there is only one wing that is special, and that is the fourth wing...... From beginning to end, Maruyama Masao insisted on the integrity of the Fourth Wing, not only because the soldiers of the Fourth Wing were all from Sendai, but also because Maruyama Masao used to be the wing leader of this Fourth Wing, and he was full of affection for this Wing and believed that this Wing was the soul of the Second Division.

"No!" Maruyama Masao denied the staff officer's statement, he pointed to the guide and said: "The Fourth Wing should be placed here, the front of the Americans!" ”

[It's about to be 515, I hope to continue to hit the 515 red envelope list, and the red envelope rain will be able to give back to readers and promotional works on May 15. A piece is also love, and it must be better! (To be continued.) )