The 3,000 men of the new regiment were divided into one cruiser and five destroyers...... Destroyers and cruisers are used for combat rather than for carrying people, and they are often loaded with equipment, ammunition, supplies, fuel, and even seaplanes on the cruiser that can be used for reconnaissance.

This is also the reason why the transportation of the "Tokyo Express" during the Japanese war on Kuah Island could not meet the needs of the Kuah Island Campaign, and in the later period, the Japanese army even sacrificed ammunition and supplies on the warships in order to carry more troops and supplies, but the results were still unsatisfactory.

This is especially the case with US warships, because at this time US warships were equipped with a large number of radars weighing more than 2,000 kilograms, which made the redundant load even less, so each warship could only transport about 500 people.

It wasn't because he didn't bring much heavy equipment to reduce weight, but because he had to disguise himself as a North Korean sapper...... Otherwise, after the new regiment arrived at Rabaul, the Japanese army saw that the Korean sappers had more heavy equipment than the regular army, and the second half of the two halves were exposed.

The new regiment sailed on the warship for two and a half days...... The reason why it took such a long time was because the fleet wanted to bypass the Rabaul theater of operations, and Zhang Chi learned from Captain Green that in order to resist the counterattack of the American army, the Japanese army sent submarine forces to attack everywhere, and if the route did not go around wider, it would be easy to be attacked by Japanese submarines.

This period should be said to be the darkest period for American submariners...... Because of the defects of the torpedoes, the US submarines were even powerless to deal with the Japanese cargo ships and oil tankers, but the Japanese submarines always challenged the US Navy warships because of their excellent torpedoes, and even this challenge often ended in the victory of the Japanese submarines, just like the Japanese torpedoes sank and damaged the US aircraft carriers before.

Every three days, the fleet reached the designated sea area.

At this time, it was supposed to be the time for the warship to transfer personnel with the captured Japanese cargo ship, but the warship did not dare to make any move. The reason was that the Allies could not guarantee that they would not be detected by Japanese submarines or Japanese reconnaissance planes that suddenly flew in when transferring personnel.

So they waited until it was dark before they were transferred...... This is also one of the benefits of night vision devices that have not yet been fully applied in the military.

The disadvantage is that the wind and waves are a bit strong at night, and it is not safe to transfer people after dark...... The soldiers of the new regiment despite the experience of landing on Kuah Island. However, after all, the relevant training at sea was limited, and some people inevitably fell into the water during the evacuation, and the search and rescue was very difficult in the dark and stormy conditions, and seven soldiers were eventually lost in this transfer.

But when it comes to disappearance, anyone knows what it means to be missing in this boundless sea.

Zhang Chi didn't take this matter to heart at the beginning, because compared to the new regiment of 3,000 people, the casualties of seven people can be said to be too small, or it can also be said that Zhang Chi is used to it.

Until Staff Officer Liang sighed and said, "There are seven more brothers, and the bodies can't be found...... How can you explain it to their families?! ”

Hearing this, Zhang Chi couldn't help but be stunned, and then realized that he was almost numb to the casualties of the soldiers at this time. Seven lives are just a number in Zhang Chi's subconscious.

Then, three cargo ships flying the Japanese sun flag sailed towards Rabaul overnight, and the flotilla even sent a telegram to the Japanese troops in Rabaul, reporting the position of the fleet to Rabaul and requesting the Japanese to send warships and warplanes to cover them...... This was not a difficult task for the Chinese and American coalition forces, who were able to decipher the Japanese code.

However, this was actually just to deceive the trust of the Japanese army, Zhang Chi knew that most of the Japanese warships were busy fighting, and the fighters could not be dispatched at night, so they would not send any escort warships or fighters at all.

But this time Zhang Chi was wrong, and Rabaul's Japanese army quickly responded. It is said that two cruisers will converge with the convoy in two hours to escort the convoy, so that the convoy will keep in touch with Rabaul and pay attention to screening.

When he received this telegram, Zhang Chi couldn't help but be stunned.

"What should I do?" Staff Officer Liang asked Zhang Chi.

"What else can I do?" Zhang Chi replied: "Pass the order, meet the enemy in two hours, and all units do a good job of camouflage." Throw all items that could reveal your identity into the sea! ”

"Yes!" Staff Officer Liang answered and passed the order through the flag.

So the fighters quickly got busy...... In fact, the soldiers could have said that they had made preparations before, but because they felt that the time to meet the enemy was not so fast, and the cargo ship could not reach Rabaul until at least tomorrow morning at a speed of 20 knots, so the work was not done so meticulously.

This was mainly done by Park Chung-hyung, a Japanese prisoner of Korean origin. They put the fighters through one last check, sometimes removing some of the gadgets they had around their necks, and sometimes making them throw away American kettles...... Finally, after half an hour, I couldn't find anything wrong with it.

But in fact, the fighters of the new regiment do not need to be so nervous. Because the Japanese army had no doubts about the identity of these three cargo ships at all.

The two cruisers that came to escort the convoy were the "Nachi" and the "Ashigara", and these two cruisers happened to be taking advantage of the night to send troops and supplies to the unnamed island northeast of Rabaul, and when they were about to return home, they received a signal that there was a fleet that needed to escort them, on the other hand, because Rabaul was seriously understaffed, and the Japanese did not want any accidents to happen to these cargo ships transporting personnel, so they ordered these two cruisers to escort the fleet.

The Nachi and Ashigara simply sent a searchlight to the cargo ship to identify the signal...... This identification signal was already received by the U.S. military from the captured Japanese sailors, so they passed the test smoothly, so the two cruisers served as the "guards" of the starting fleet one after the other.

This made Zhang Chi and even all the fighters of the new regiment feel a tingling in their scalps...... You must know that they are two heavy cruisers of Japanese devils, and Zhang Chi and the others are on cargo ships, as long as the Japanese army is seen through by the slightest accident, the new regiment will definitely end up in the annihilation of the whole army, and there is no chance to fight back.

Later, when a soldier recalled this moment, he sighed: "At that time, I really understood what it means to 'make a man a sword, I am a fish and meat', if this is on the shore, there is a hope of escape, but in this sea...... That's a place to run away if you want to! In the future, as soon as you get on the boat, you will remember this feeling, and you will be terrified! ”

(To be continued.) )