Bismarck naval battle

On the evening of February 28th, a transport fleet consisting of eight transport ships and eight destroyers set sail from rabaul for Laicheng. The Japanese navy and army aviation will provide them with maximum air cover. The destroyers have been specially strengthened in air defense, and the sailors on the transport ship are veterans who have carried out battlefield transportation tasks on Guadalcanal Island. They operate the anti-aircraft gun positions added by the transport ship, which will serve as the second line of defense against allied air strikes. The Japanese army mixed transport ships and destroyers and distributed air defense firepower as evenly as possible. At the same time, they also plan to suppress air strikes against Maultsby Port, milne bay, Buna and Wau Allied Airports. In fact, this plan did not come true, but Laicheng Airport was suppressed by the Royal Australian Air Force. The commander of the fleet, Major General Tomio Kimura, is full of confidence in the success of the transportation operation: he has strong cover from the sea and air, and the Japanese navy performing the task is a veteran who has fought many battles. At the same time, the weather is fine and the fleet is shrouded in bad weather, so it will not be too difficult to reach Laicheng safely.

Commander-in-Chief of Japanese Transport Fleet: Major General Tomio Kimura.

Commander of transport fleet: Jing Daole Matsumoto.

Escort destroyer fleet

Huang Chao, Chaochao, Snow White and October (all four ships were killed in the Battle of Bismarck).

Chaoyun, Fu Bo, Popo and Xuefeng (5 1 Some members of the Infantry Division Command, including Lieutenant General Hideyoshi Nakano, survived on this auspicious ship).

Transport motorcade

Aiyomaru) 2,746 tons (* * * carrying 252 crew members, loaded with ammunition, supplies and fuel, equipped with the No.8 Ship Engineering Wing of Simizu) and Bumaru of Kyoto Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. of Japan are 953 tons (loaded with fuel for aviation and vehicles).

Kyoku Seimaru is 5493 tons (loaded with heavy weapons such as infantry artillery, landing craft and fuel, and equipped with Nishikawa Shaozuo's 1 15 infantry wing).

Oigawa maru)6493 tons.

Bamboo knife number) 3793 tons

Taimei Pill) 2882 tons.

Teiyo maru)6869 tons (with the same name as 19, Teiyo maru sunk by an American submarine off Luzon Island in August, 1944)? )

No jima)4500 tons (noshima, 8750 tons, loaded with marine heavy oil and supplies, etc. )

Taiming pill

Since rabaul set sail, under the cover of night, the fleet has sailed southwest in the storm. Under the dim sky, the huge waves caused by the strong wind made the fleet appear and disappear in the peaks and valleys, and the heavy rain also made the visibility on the sea extremely low, which made the Japanese army feel at ease about their whereabouts. Unfortunately, on the morning of March 1, a B-24 of the 32nd1Squadron of the 90th Bomber Brigade of the United States Army Air Force, which took off from port moresby, found the trace of the Japanese fleet in the Bismarck Sea and immediately telegraphed the headquarters in port moresby. However, the bad weather affected the tracking of the Japanese fleet by the reconnaissance plane sent later, and it was not until 8: 0015' on March 2 that the position of the Japanese fleet was re-determined.

At this time, the position of the Japanese fleet was still outside the operational radius of the medium bomber, so General Kenny ordered the B- 17 heavy bomber to be dispatched. Two waves were bombed in the morning, each 29, 1 1 B- 17. By that afternoon, the Japanese transport ship Polaris Maru was sunk, Yang Di Maru and Nojima were injured, and two Japanese fighter planes trying to cover the fleet were also shot down by B- 17. A B- 17 was shot down by zero war, and the parachuting crew was immediately strafed by Japanese warplanes.

A * * * probably 1500 people fell into the water. Japanese destroyers Xuefeng and Chaoyun picked up about 950 of them and left the fleet for Laicheng at full speed. These Japanese soldiers who fell into the water did not expect that their bad luck would save them from the subsequent disaster. Before dawn the next day, two destroyers sent the drowning man to Laicheng and returned to the fleet at full speed.

From the night of March 2 to the early morning of March 3, the Japanese fleet continued to sail and was not seriously attacked. Only a PBY-5 "Katrina" seaplane with the number 1 1 which took off from Cairns tracked them from a long distance, occasionally harassed the small fleet, and kept sending their positions back to the headquarters until the morning of March 3, when a US Army aviation B-65438. After crossing the Vitiaz Strait between New Britain and Rock Island and entering the Solomon Sea, Major General Kimura made a fatal mistake: instead of sailing to Laicheng at full speed under the cover of night, he foolishly ordered the fleet to circle in the dark and postponed the estimated arrival time to the next night. On the morning of March 3, when the B- 17 fleet returned, the Japanese transport fleet remained on the sea. Why did Major General Kimura make such a decision? The attack of B- 17 in the daytime on March 2 made him feel the threat of allied land-based aviation, which was not serious in his view, but it was always an existing problem. The continuous tracking of allied aircraft also made him understand that the whereabouts of the fleet had been completely exposed; If we continue to sail to Laicheng, the fleet will arrive on the morning of March 3, and we will have to face the powerful daytime air raid of the Allied Forces on Laicheng Port, and the Japanese air force at Laicheng Airport is weak and cannot provide effective cover; Then, it may be a good choice to leave the fleet within the coverage radius of the Japanese Air Force at Gasmata Airport during the day, and then land in Laicheng on the night of March 3: the relatively powerful Japanese land-based air force in New Britain is enough to protect the fleet from the allied land-based air force in New Guinea during the day.

On the morning of March 3rd, several beaufort torpedo attack planes of the Royal Australian Air Force 100 squadron, which took off from milne bay, found the traces of the Japanese fleet and launched an attack. Due to the bad weather, only three ships successfully approached the Japanese fleet and attacked. Two beaufort torpedo attack planes fired torpedoes at 6: 25 in the morning, but missed; The third plane attacked at 7 am. Due to the failure of the torpedo release device of beaufort attack aircraft, the aircraft strafed the superstructure of a transport ship with airborne weapons, but only caused minor damage. Subsequently, the three planes immediately returned to milne bay to troubleshoot and refuel, ready to join the Allied Air Force's full-scale air raid on the Japanese fleet. At this time, the allied land-based aviation in the whole area was mobilized. According to the operational arrangements already deployed by the Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force, allied bombers, attack planes and fighter planes roared off at all allied airports from eastern New Guinea to northeastern Australia, heading for the planned Bismarck naval battle field. After taking off, the A-20 attack fleet of the Royal Australian Air Force turned to Laicheng to continue the task of suppressing the local Japanese airport. Many pilots who participated in the battle at that time recalled that after taking off, they saw "a huge fleet that New Guinea has never had since the war". In fact, the number of land-based aviation used in this air raid was the largest in the entire South Pacific at that time.

At 9: 30 in the morning, the first air raid fleet assembled over Cape Ward Hunt. At 10 a.m., 13 B- 17, accompanied by 16 P-38, bombed the Japanese fleet horizontally in the middle and high altitude. Although the bombing did not cause any losses, the Japanese ship disrupted the fleet's air defense formation when it avoided falling at high altitude, creating opportunities for the follow-up attack aircraft to raid at low altitude. Almost at the same time, 13 Royal Australian Air Force "beaufighter" attack ship directly attacked the Japanese fleet from low altitude. The "beaufighter" attack ship is equipped with four 20 mm cannons at the bow and six .303 machine guns on the wing, which is called "whispering death" by the Japanese. Followed by the B-25 fleet of the 5th Air Force, the two formations were so close that they crossed. Other allied planes surrounded the Japanese fleet and carried out centripetal attacks centering on the fleet from all directions. The anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese fleet aimed at the "beaufighter" fleet and fired fiercely. What makes the Australian pilots even more headache is that the P-38 fighter group escorting them overhead at this time got rid of the auxiliary fuel tank and began to climb, ready to engage with the Japanese fighters covering the fleet. These falling auxiliary fuel tanks hit huge waves, which seriously hindered the sight of the pilots of the "beaufighter" fleet flying at low altitude. Fortunately, none of these Australian planes were hit by anti-aircraft fire, and all of them successfully broke through the anti-aircraft fire circle of the peripheral destroyers and rushed to the transport ship. Subsequently, the Australian military aircraft group climbed to the attack altitude, and then carried out a dive attack on the target transport ship they selected. Intensive fire consisting of 20 mm cannon and 6.303 machine gun swept the anti-aircraft gun position and superstructure of the transport ship, and a huge explosion occurred on the deck cargo hold of a transport ship on the spot, spraying a large orange fireball. An observer on the attack ship "beaufighter" vividly described the scene at that time: "We quickly left the enemy destroyers behind, but they kept shooting at us with their own anti-aircraft guns of various calibers. The hiss of small-caliber rapid-fire guns and the Mao Mao of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns are endless, and we can see the fire line composed of tracer bullets radiating around our plane. A transport ship came into view of the plane. It's well camouflaged, with front and rear masts? . At first it looked vague, but as the plane approached at high speed, it became clearer and clearer. The huge vibration of the first machine gun firing was like thunder, which made your feet numb. At the same time, you can clearly see that the fire line composed of machine gun tracer bullets is projected on the hull. After a short silence, orange fireballs suddenly spewed out from all over the hull. "

Following the "beaufighter" fleet is the 12 B-25 heavy attack ship of the 90th attack squadron under the command of Major Edward Rana. Flying above them are 13 unmodified ordinary B-25 fleets, which bomb horizontally in the air from 2000 to 3000 feet. It is estimated that Japanese observers confused Bo Fighter with the fleet of B-25 and the torpedo attack aircraft of beaufort, which attacked earlier. Japanese ships turned their bows and headed straight for the attack fleet according to the standard action mode of avoiding torpedoes. This evasive method may be effective in evading torpedoes, but it makes the pilots of allied attack aircraft happy. In an instant, the storm composed of 10 B-25 forward-fired machine guns swept from the bow to the stern. When the B-25 fired, the huge flame from the nose machine gun made many Japanese air defense gunners think that the nose of the B-25 was hit and burned, but their emplacements were immediately silenced by these "burning" planes. And the weapons of the B-25 are far more than that. With the opening of the bomb bay, 500 Jin fell on the water and bounced to the hull of the Japanese ship, which fully showed the results of the hard training of the "ricochet attack" of the 5 th Air Force. A pilot of the "beaufighter" attack ship recalled an interesting scene when his plane bounced back to the same target on the water with a weight of 500 pounds in a dive attack, forming a small formation. B-25 * * * threw 37,500 pounds, of which 17 hit the target. Twenty A-20s of the Fifth Air Force threw 20,500 pounds and hit 1 1. The high-altitude B- 17 fleet reported 5 hits, but failed to verify them. When the allied low-altitude attack fleet climbed again after throwing, only a pile of debris and debris and several floating and burning ships were left on the passing sea.

At high altitude, the same fierce fighting broke out between the Japanese cover fighter group and the allied 28 P-38s. C.L. "Jack" Jones, the captain of the P-38 pilot who shot down the Japanese ace pilot Yoshino (shot down with a 15 plane), recalled the scene at that time and said: "The special feature of the Bismarck naval battle is that it was a ground battle of' fighting at sea and winning in the air'. P-38 of the 39th Flying Squadron to which I belong serves as the escort for the bomber group and the attack group. The intelligence department estimates that our opponents will be about 40 HNA Zero fighters and about 60 Japanese Army aviation fighters covering the Japanese transport fleet. HNA Zero was responsible for air cover in the morning, and Luhang fighters took over in the afternoon. " "During the day on March 2, the weather was extremely bad, and we didn't have much chance to fight. Fortunately, under the cover of thick clouds, my team and I found and quietly approached three Japanese air fighters. I quickly deflected the nose by 90 degrees and fired a long-range shot that swept the Japanese flight team. My bullets and shells hit the engine in front of the cockpit of this fighter plane. In the thick black smoke from the engine, the plane staggered and crashed in the jungle. The remaining two Japanese fighters quickly fled into the clouds and disappeared, which made us extremely disappointed. "

"March 3rd is a day I will never forget. The weather improved that day, and we went all out with HNA Japan. I still remember that Japanese ships were in a mess on the sea to avoid our low-altitude bomber group, and the burning Japanese ships braved thick black smoke. At high altitude, we fought fiercely. I aimed at a zero at 12. When this zero tried to turn right in front of me to seize 6 o'clock, I smashed a large piece of its fuselage with a long-range shot. Maybe this shot hit the pilot or the flight control system, and it immediately plunged vertically, dragging a faint black smoke. My other comrades-in-arms are also fighting fiercely with zero at this time. We completed the assigned task so well that the Japanese fighters could not attack our bomber group. "

Allied forces lost 1 B- 17 and three p-38s in the air battle. After the wing fuel tank of B-65,438+07 was ignited, Captain Woodrow Moore tried his best to fly the plane away from the Allied formation and dive down, throwing all the fuel into the sea. When the plane disintegrated due to continuous burning and explosion, 7 of the1/kloc-0 crew members parachuted in time. However, these crew members hanging on parachutes were immediately strafed by Japanese fighters. There are different opinions about the number of Japanese soldiers shot down in the battle, ranging from 6 to 20, but according to the situation, 6 to 10 is a reasonable number. During the battle, eight aircrew members of the Allied Forces were injured, and 13 aircrew members were killed, including three accidental deaths and six aircraft losses.

At this time, the entire Japanese fleet fell into a sea of fire. Of the 15 ships, only one destroyer (Xuefeng) was not hit, and the burning transport ship either sank or exploded, and the Japanese soldiers on board scrambled to jump into the sea to escape. Allied air strikes lasted all morning and afternoon, and only the fleet returned to the base for a short stop to refuel and hang bombs. By that evening, all eight transport ships and eight destroyers, namely Huang Chao, Snow and October, were seriously injured and had sunk or were about to sink. Another destroyer was injured in the DPRK, but it was still able to sail at a low speed on the sea. After catching as many survivors as possible, the other four Japanese destroyers hastily retreated northward to rabaul before the next wave of allied air strikes arrived.

While the allied land-based aviation is engaged in fierce fighting, the US Navy stationed in milne bay and Turkey is also planning to attack the PT torpedo boat later. The Seventh Fleet 10 PT boat arrived at the battlefield from the night of March 3rd to the early morning of March 4th. Two PT boats were damaged by water contact, so they had to return first. When other ships arrived at the battlefield, they only found an abandoned Japanese transport ship "Okawa Maru" floating alone on the water, which made the sailors of the US Navy very disappointed. 1 1: 20', PT- 143 and PT- 150 each fired a torpedo to sink okawa maru.

The next day, allied land-based aviation launched a full-scale air raid on Laicheng. At the same time, the B-25 fleet of the 5th Air Force, which was cleaning the battlefield, found the Chaochao, which was rescuing the survivors of the destroyer Huang Chao, on the sea and sank it easily. In the following days, the planes of allied land-based aviation and the PT torpedo fleet of the US Navy continued to patrol the waters near the Xiune Peninsula, searching for Japanese survivors and rescue boats floating on the sea in this area and killing them mercilessly with airborne weapons. Many people think this practice is too inhuman. Allen Stephens, an Australian historian, wrote in the book: "This bloody and cruel task made many pilots feel very uncomfortable, but a pilot of the Royal Australian Air Force's Beaufighter attack ship said:' We are very happy to carry out this work. Every time a Japanese is killed at sea, it means that our army comrades on the ground have to face one less enemy. "Samuel Eliot Morrison, a famous American naval historian, also wrote in his book:" This is a cruel task, but it is absolutely necessary in the military. Japanese soldiers are used to tenacious fighting and refuse to surrender. Therefore, these Japanese soldiers will swim ashore to meet the defenders in Laicheng, making it more difficult to fight on the ground. "

By March 3 1, the results can finally be counted. Allied land-based aviation sank the Japanese fleet 16 1 1, and none of the eight transport ships survived (the Okawa Maru sunk by the PT fleet of the US Navy was included in the naval exploits). 5 1 The main force of the infantry division was destroyed, and 3,664 of the 6,900 soldiers were killed. In addition to being rescued by destroyers, 2,427 people fell into the water. Most of these soldiers died in the process of drifting to the shore because of exposure, hunger, strafing by allied planes and shark attacks. The Japanese soldiers who insisted on drifting to the shore had no food or water, and their weapons had long been lost. They can only choose between being killed by the Australian army and starving to death. In the end, only about 800 Japanese troops were able to stick to drifting to the shore and avoid the patrol of the allied forces. Even these lucky people were killed in the fierce battle with the allies.