The little devil who built the airport did not expect the coastal defense forces to collapse so quickly. Seeing the helicopter rushing in with thousands of US troops in cover, he hurriedly threw down his freshly prepared breakfast and fled into the jungle.

The US military easily seized the airfield, the runway was basically completed, the tower and power plant had been built, and a large amount of food, construction equipment, and building materials had been seized. The most popular trophies are hundreds of cases of Japanese beer, a well-built frozen processing plant.

At a huge cost of sacrificing more than 1,600 people, the 1st Marine Division finally captured Kuah Island.

The first operational purpose of the commander of the Van der Grift division had already been achieved, and naturally there was no reason to continue the "seizure" of helicopters. Under the reluctant gaze of the American soldiers, six Raging Dragon helicopters flew towards Darwin.

The mode of helicopter cooperation with infantry has since become the most basic combat method. However, the Americans have not yet produced such a colossal helicopter gunship.

After MacArthur received the battle reports from the front, as the commander of the front, he quickly discovered the huge combat potential of the helicopter gunship. Therefore, he ordered his chief of staff, Suthers, to find a way to communicate with the Republic of Lanfang to see if he could "assist a group".

When the command of the little devil learned that the Ichiki detachment and the Aoki detachment had been annihilated one after another and that Kuah Island had been lost, it was already noon on August 21, 1942, half a month later than in history.

Yamamoto Isoroku and Hyakutake Harumichi were shocked, and then realized that the American forces attacking Kuah Island were not a small force. It was decided to send reinforcements the next day in an effort to recapture Kuah by the end of August.

In order to ensure the success of World War I, Isoroku Yamamoto used the 8th Fleet to ensure the safety of the reinforcements, and the main force of the Combined Fleet took the opportunity to lure out the US aircraft carrier formation to destroy it.

In order to achieve this attempt, he put into operation almost all combat ships in the South Pacific in five parts:

The first part is the advance group, which consists of 1 capital ship, 1 seaplane carrier (Chitose), carrying 22 seaplanes, 6 cruisers, and 8 destroyers, which is responsible for reconnoitering the movements of the enemy fleet and directing it in the direction where the main force is located, and actively providing support and cover when the main force engages the enemy.

The second part is the containment group, which consists of 1 light aircraft carrier (Longxiang), carrying 16 fighters and 21 torpedo planes, 1 cruiser, and 2 destroyers, which is responsible for trying to attract carrier-based aircraft of the US aircraft carriers and creating conditions for the attack of the main force.

The third part is the main force group, which is commanded by Vice Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa, which has 2 aircraft carriers (Shozuru and Zuizuru), carrying 53 fighters, 41 bombers, 36 torpedo planes, 2 battleships, 4 cruisers, and 12 destroyers.

The fourth part is the anti-shore firing group, which consists of four cruisers, and bombards the US airfield and positions on Kuah Island with naval artillery firepower to provide fire preparation and support for the action of the reinforcement group.

The fifth part was a reinforcement group, commanded by Rear Admiral Yorizo Tanaka, with 1 auxiliary cruiser and 4 fast transport ships converted from old destroyers, transporting 1,500 ground forces, escorted by 1 cruiser and 8 destroyers, responsible for sending ground forces to Kuah Island.

Yamamoto personally took the battleship "Yamato", covered by one escort aircraft carrier and three destroyers, and was located in the waters north of the Solomon Islands to exercise overall command. More than 10 submarines were deployed in the Solomon Islands to closely monitor the movements of the US military.

The occupation of Kuah Island was nothing more than a tentacle that the Japanese monkeys stretched out, and the crisis in Australia was not completely resolved.

Both Admiral Nimitz and Admiral MacArthur knew very well in their hearts that if there was no air supremacy and sea supremacy, Kuah Island would not be able to hold it in the end.

The Japanese troops on Tulagi Island sent an urgent telegram to the Malaita Island Command after being attacked by the American troops, which made the Japanese aware of the actions of the American troops.

However, the self-righteous Lieutenant General Hyakutake Haruyoshi believes that this will not be a formal counteroffensive by the US military, but at most an attack of a reconnaissance and harassing nature, and it will not be difficult to repel it. However, the airfield on Kuah Island cannot be used by the US military, and it is necessary to quickly organize forces to retake Kuah Island.

He was reluctant to use the troops attacking Port Moresby, so Lieutenant General Mikawa had no choice but to draw 519 men from the Marine Corps stationed on Malaita Island and escort them to Kuah Island by one cruiser, one minesweeper, and one submarine hunter on the transport ship "Mingyang" and the supply ship "Soya."

On 22 August, according to a report by a reconnaissance plane, Lieutenant General Mikawa Gun-1 knew that the US military had a strong presence in the waters off Kuah Island, so he ordered it to return to the sea; on the way back, the "Mingyang" was sunk by the US submarine S-38, and the 373 marines on board were buried at the bottom of the sea.

On the day of the US landing, Lieutenant General Mikawa Junichi dispatched the Japanese 25th Air Force on Malaita Island to dispatch 51 planes to attack Kuah Island, but they were effectively intercepted by 62 US carrier-based fighters and 19 were shot down.

The next day, 23 July, the 25th Air Force dispatched another 41 planes to attack Kuah Island, and at the cost of losing 16 planes, it managed to break through the interception of US planes, sinking the transport ship "Elliott" and damaging the destroyer "Jarvis."

However, during the air raids, the Japanese planes only focused on attacking the US ships, but did not attack the weakly defended but extremely important -- the mountains of materials piled up on the beach, which was the biggest mistake of the Japanese army.

The commander of the Japanese 8th Fleet, Vice Admiral Mikawa Gunichi, felt the seriousness of the situation and immediately decided to launch a counterattack.

Although his warships were scattered for various tasks at this time, he quickly concentrated his nearby warships, and a total of five heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and one destroyer left Malaita Island on the night of 25 August and headed south.

In fact, the base camp of the little devils did not agree with this dispatch decision of the Eighth Fleet at all, and the reasons for the base camp were very sufficient:

First of all, the Eighth Fleet has been in existence for less than three weeks and has never been trained to cooperate.

In addition, the Eighth Fleet does not have aircraft carriers, and it has been proven that the land-based air force on Malaita Island cannot effectively support such a long distance, and the Eighth Fleet will be very dangerous if it encounters an attack by US aircraft carriers.

Finally, it is not clear whether the Americans will start an all-out attack or simply interfere with the construction of Japanese airfields, and it will not be too late to think of countermeasures after they have figured out their intentions.

But Yamamoto 56 gave the first lieutenant general of the Mikawa Army a combat permission order, and the first qiē was left to the discretion of the Mikawa Army.

The heavy cruisers of the Japanese Eighth Fleet were all old ships that were launched around 1925, and the light cruisers were ships of the First World War. Challenging the American aircraft carrier formation without air cover is conceivable only one possibility.

But Mikawa Junyi is a party, and he can't and has nowhere to retreat.

The British Royal Navy's credo of "fighting when you see the enemy" is also the creed of the Japanese Navy.

The Sanchuan Army must fight, and Yamamoto Fifty-six can only pretend to be deaf and dumb.

The current staff officer of the Eighth Fleet, who had just taken office, was stationed in Germany in his early years and was a pro-German faction in the navy.

Because Germany separated its air force and formed its air force, while Japan did not have a corresponding branch of the military, Japan's pro-German faction, both the army and the navy, were all aviation blind.

Shen Zhongde is not only aviation blind, but also fundamentally looks down on those who open their mouths and close their mouths to be airplanes.

The tactics adopted by Shen Chongde were as follows: Arrange the most basic column of the Japanese Navy, with the flagship rushing first, and the rest of the ships just following the flagship.

It doesn't matter if there is no air cover, the Great Japanese Navy is best at "night fighting", and after the surprise attack, it will withdraw from the battlefield, and it should be fine if it retreats outside the range of US fighters before dawn.

At around 14:00 p.m. on August 25, the Eighth Fleet, led by Gunichi Mikawa, sailed out of the Konos base and swooped down at full speed towards the waters of Kuah Island with a jade shattering mentality.

If the Japanese army wanted to move south in broad daylight, it would not be able to avoid the aerial reconnaissance of the US military.

In fact, as early as the daylight of August 25, a reconnaissance plane converted from a Furious Dragon bomber assisted by Bai Shujie saw four Japanese ships assembled on Malaita Island. Because it was too far from the war zone, the US military did not take it seriously.

As soon as Mikawa's fleet was dispatched that night, the US submarine S-28 discovered and reported to its superiors, and at this time, the Japanese fleet was still more than 500 nautical miles away from Kuah Island, which also did not attract the attention of the US military.

At about 8 o'clock on 26 August, an Australian reconnaissance plane spotted the Mikawa fleet for the third time, but the pilot did not report it in time due to radio silence.

After returning to the base in the afternoon, he did not think so, and only reported to his superiors after using snacks, which was a full delay of six hours, so that the US military did not have time to send planes to reconnoiter and verify.

On the one hand, because the Japanese army had just begun to use the new code, it would take some time to decipher it, and on the other hand, the Mikawa fleet was unable to provide accurate information because it had just begun to use the new code.

Turner knew that his landing formation was the primary target of the Japanese army, and that the only way from Konos to Kuah was a narrow waterway between the two island chains of the Solomon Islands, commonly known as the "trough sea."

On 26 August, he sent a special reconnaissance plane to reconnoiter along the trough sea, but because of bad weather, the plane did not complete the flight as ordered and returned home, and the pilot did not report the situation. Therefore, Turner did not know anything about the upcoming naval battle.

As early as 25 August, Mikawa ordered five heavy cruisers to eject and take off a carrier-based reconnaissance plane to conduct a comprehensive reconnaissance of Kuah Island and learn about the composition and location of the US fleet.

When he learned that the US military had a number of aircraft carriers in the waters off Kuah Island, that it had air supremacy, and that it had an advantage in troops, he decided to attack its weaknesses with its own strengths and carry out a night battle.

At about 16 o'clock, Mikawaichi entered the waters between Kuah Island and Tulagi Island, and for the third time sent two reconnaissance planes to verify the night berthing position of the US warship, and threw flares during the night battle.

It was precisely because Mikawa had carried out repeated reconnaissance and had a complete grasp of the situation of the American army, that he decided to enter Iron Bottom Bay from the south of Savo Island, first destroy the American cruisers, then the transport ships, and finally withdraw from the north of Savo Island.

The light signal of the heavy cruiser "Chokai", the flagship of Guò, was immediately transmitted to inform the ships of the battle plan.

At 18 o'clock, the Japanese ships threw all the flammable materials on the deck into the sea for the final inspection and preparation of the ammunition.

At 22:30, it was completely dark. Led by the "Bird Sea", the Japanese army lined up in a single column with a distance of 1,200 meters, raised a white identification flag on the mast, accelerated to 28 knots, and broke into the waters of Kuah Island with murderous spirit!

The American devil is desperately trying to cultivate an opponent for himself, and finally it is time to reap the consequences, which is also the result that Bai Shujie likes to see the most.

After all, what happens next, let's see how it will be broken down next time.