But there is no regret medicine to take in the war, and the reality at this time is that the Kuah Island airport is already in the hands of the US military, and Japan is constrained everywhere and falls into a state of passive beating.

"But Your Excellency Lieutenant General!" The staff officer asked: "The biggest problem now is that we can't supply Kuah Island!" As a result, Lieutenant General Maruyama did not dare to attack the airfield lightly, because he was afraid that a rash attack would cause too many casualties in the case of insufficient equipment, and eventually our army would lose its numerical superiority. ”

"We have to do it on two fronts!" Hyakutake Haruyoshi said: "On the one hand, we will limit the scope of the US Navy's activities on Kuah Island and the reinforcement of Kuah Island, and on the other hand, we will do our best to provide supplies to Kuah Island so that Maruyama will have the ability to recapture the Kuah Island airfield!" ”

"Limiting the U.S. Navy?" The staff officer asked suspiciously: "But our navy has ......."

"Do you know how the Germans blockaded Britain?" Hyakutake Haruyoshi interrupted the staff officer's words.

"Your Excellency the Lieutenant General is saying...... Submarines?! (Note: The Japanese call submarines submarines)

Hyakku Haruyoshi nodded silently.

Germany's policy towards Britain was to blockade the sea with submarines and bomb it with airplanes in the sky.

It should be said that this blockade was quite effective, and 70% of the supplies that Britain had to import before the war...... This is the advantage of the colonial overlords, who can use cheap labor from colonial countries such as India and Burma to create wealth for them, and then ship this wealth to Britain like "bloodsuckers".

As a result, when German submarines blockaded Britain, there was a serious shortage of supplies in the country.

In his memoirs, Churchill described Britain under blockade with the following passage:

The streets are littered with collapsed ruins and homeless people, and hungry people are looking for almost everything they can to feed on...... There was a looting in the streets, hungry men and women began to beat each other over half a loaf of bread, and a woman holding a baby waiting to be fed was eager for milk powder, but was told that the milk powder might not be delivered—half an hour earlier "a merchant ship" had been hit by several German torpedoes. Forever sunk to the bottom of the sea.

The staff officer couldn't help but nodded, and then asked Hyakutake Harukichi: "What ......about providing supplies for Kuah Island?"

"We can no longer use transport boats to carry supplies from warships to the island as before!" "It takes too much time and it's inefficient!" ”

"But is there any other way for us to transport supplies?" The staff officer couldn't help but be a little puzzled.

"Absolutely!" Hyakutake replied, "Aren't there many empty gasoline barrels at Rabaul Airport?" ”

"Gasoline drums?" The staff officer didn't understand what Hyakutake Haruyoshi meant.

"Fill the supply in the gasoline drum!" Hyakutake Haruyoshi ordered: "The amount of gasoline barrels can be floated on the surface of the sea depends on the amount of gasoline barrels, and when the warship reaches the vicinity of Kuah Island, push the gasoline barrels down, and the waves will wash the gasoline barrels on Kuah Island." Do you understand? ”

"Oh!" The staff officer couldn't help but suddenly realize.

Although this does not guarantee that every gasoline barrel will be washed to Kuah Island and picked up by the Japanese troops on Kuah Island, there is no doubt that it can save a lot of time, and what the Japanese warships lack is time.

It should be said that Hyakutake Haruyoshi's two strategies are quite correct, on the one hand, it can compress and limit the supply of US troops on Kuah Island to the greatest extent, and on the other hand, it can provide supplies to the Japanese army on Kuah Island. Although the U.S. military still received a larger amount of supplies than the Japanese army, with the equipment and tactics of the U.S. army, the amount of supplies needed can be said to be almost astronomical, and the Japanese army's equipment is just the opposite.

The result may be that the Japanese army has enough supplies to launch an attack. And the supplies of the American army are not enough for defense.

What's worse is that the anti-submarine capabilities of the US military at this time are not advanced, and the performance of Japanese torpedoes is much more advanced than that of the US military...... As mentioned before, U.S. torpedoes have the disadvantages of slow speed, short range, and will explode early, or hit the target but do not explode. In the most extreme case, a U.S. submarine fired thirteen torpedoes at a Japanese tanker, most of which hit but none of them exploded, and the angry U.S. submarine captain returned with the only remaining torpedo and fired the torpedo toward the coast. As a result, the torpedo still did not explode, and only then did I know that there was a problem with the torpedo fuse. But that's been 43 years.

What's more, U.S. torpedoes often play a "negative role" on the battlefield...... On several occasions, when a US submarine attacked a wounded Japanese ship with a torpedo, not only did the torpedo not explode and did not cause any damage to the Japanese troops, but the torpedo it hit also broke its body, and the back half of the torpedo floated on the surface of the water, which happened to be a life raft for the Japanese sailors who fell into the water.

The opposite is true. The Japanese Type 95 torpedo was very reliable, with a range almost three times that of the US torpedo, and it also had the characteristics of high speed, large warhead, and strong destructive power.

Therefore, if the United States and Japan launch an anti-submarine warfare, it is very likely that the US military will not be an opponent of the Japanese army. The outcome of the Battle of Kuah may also be reversed as a result.

But things are bad in the hands of the Japanese themselves.

As we all know, Germany mainly uses submarines to attack merchant ships, oil tankers, or a few warships that do not have much anti-submarine equipment, and they dive and evade soon after the attack, so as to give full play to the concealment of submarines and preserve their strength as much as possible to achieve the purpose of striking the enemy's supply lines.

The Japanese, on the other hand, were in the opposite of submarines, believing that attacking merchant ships, oil tankers, or transport ships was a weak and cowardly act...... This is really a little puzzling, for example, on the battlefield of Kuah Island, Hyakutake Haruyoshi's purpose is to block the supply of the US military to Kuah Island, so how can its submarine force not attack merchant ships and oil tankers?!

However, it is normal for the Japanese to behave in a way that others do not understand, and their so-called "bushido spirit" often does things that are contrary to the principles of the battlefield.

So the goal of the Japanese submarine ...... They said that they wanted to blockade Kuah Island, but when it really started, they used submarines to attack US warships.

Even Hyakutake Haruyoshi gave such an order to the submarine forces: mainly to attack the opponent's battleships and aircraft carriers, followed by cruisers and destroyers, etc., and only when the above-mentioned combat ships could not be found, they could attack merchant ships. It was also stipulated that all torpedoes in each tube could be fired at battleships and aircraft carriers, three torpedoes at cruisers, and only one torpedo at merchant ships.

Only one torpedo can be fired at a merchant ship...... In other words, if this torpedo missed, then the Japanese submarine could only watch the merchant ship pass in front of it.

(To be continued.) )