On February 20, 1941, President Roosevelt submitted a bill to Congress to "order aid supplies to the Soviet Union from South China", but it was not passed due to unanimous opposition from congressmen representing the interests of military industrial enterprises.
You must know that the purpose of the U.S. "Concession Act" is to stimulate U.S. military production. In the view of many congressmen, there is no need for outsiders to share this big cake. The United States is enough to support the arms needs of the "free" world.
As for whether the Soviet Union can finally obtain combat materials, it is not among the considerations of these politicians. Anyway, after the materials are shipped, the account will be placed on the Soviet Union, which will not harm the interests of the United States. The population of the Allies is almost four to five times the population of the Axis Powers.
More than three times, and the ratio of the two's total industrial output is as high as five to one. There should not be much problem with the allies' final victory. There is no need to create extraneous problems and let other countries take advantage.
When the news came, An Yi, who was inspecting urban and rural areas in India, was very disappointed. When answering reporters' questions in Mumbai, he said that the United States had not considered the urgent needs of allied countries for weapons and equipment, and the bill had not been passed. According to the current productivity of the United States, it would definitely delay the
The armed forces of the Allied Powers caused terrible and disastrous consequences.
Most U.S. congressmen laughed off the news after reading it, but the subsequent fierce battle between the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Navy in the Central Pacific changed these people's attitudes.
After the U.S. Navy gained control of the Solomon Islands last year, it did not deploy large-scale troops to the Solomon Islands due to tight battlefield conditions in South Africa and Australia.
By January of this year, a new batch of trained and armed troops headed for the Pacific battlefield. Nimitz was preparing to use the Solomon Peninsula as a base to attack Bougainville Island, New Britain Island and New Ireland Island to gain control of the central Pacific.
Control would then create conditions for counterattacks on Australia and the island of New Guinea.
For this reason, the U.S. military began to build large-scale military bases and airports on Guadalcanal. In particular, once the U.S. military completed the construction of several large-scale military airports, all military bases in the Central Pacific occupied by the Japanese army would be threatened by U.S. land-based fighters.
Under this circumstance, the commander of the Japanese Navy's Southeast Fleet, Lieutenant General Kusaka Renichi, dispatched the Japanese 25th Air Force from Rabaul and dispatched fifty aircraft to attack Guadalcanal. However, they were attacked by the new U.S. Navy who had joined the Navy.
The aircraft carrier-based fighter jets that took off from the "Essex" in the sequence were fully intercepted, but failed to achieve any results.
On the 23rd, the Japanese 25th Air Force dispatched another 41 aircraft to attack Guadalcanal, sinking the transport ship "Elliot" and damaging the destroyer "Jarvis". However, the air raids by Chinese and Japanese aircraft
They only focused on attacking U.S. ships but did not bomb the mountains of supplies on the beaches of Guadalcanal, which was extremely weak in defense but extremely important. This was the most fatal mistake of the Japanese naval aviation.
Lieutenant General Kusaka felt that the situation was serious and immediately decided to launch a counterattack. Although most of the Japanese navy was concentrated on the main island at this time for modernization and refitting, and the force was thin in the Central and South Pacific, he still quickly gathered nearby warships, a total of five heavy cruisers and two
The light cruiser, a destroyer, under the command of Eighth Fleet Commander Mikawa Junichi, left Rabaul and headed south on the evening of February 26.
If the Japanese army wanted to move south in broad daylight, it would be impossible to avoid US military reconnaissance.
In fact, as early as the day of the 25th, a U.S. B-type bomber responsible for monitoring the movements of the Japanese troops discovered four Japanese ships that were ordered to assemble towards Rabaul. However, they were too far away from Guadalcanal and failed to cause any disturbance.
The U.S. military paid full attention. That night, Mikawa's fleet had just dispatched the U.S. reconnaissance submarine and discovered it and reported it to its superiors. At this time, the Japanese fleet was still more than 500 nautical miles away from Guadalcanal, and it also did not attract the attention of the U.S. military.
At around 8:00 on February 27, a U.S. carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft discovered Sanchuan for the third time.
fleet, but the pilot did not report to his superiors in time due to radio silence. After returning to the aircraft carrier in the afternoon, he did not take it seriously and reported to his superiors after having a snack, which delayed it for six hours.
At that time, the US military had no time to send out aircraft for reconnaissance and verification.
What's even more terrible is that this US reconnaissance plane pilot also mistakenly reported the formation of this fleet as two seaplane carriers, three cruisers, and three destroyers, which made the commander of the US Navy's landing formation Kelly Turner
The rear admiral mistakenly judged that such a fleet could not be to conduct a naval battle, and was probably to establish a seaplane base in a harbor in the Solomon Islands to make up for the loss of the seaplane base in the New Georgia Islands.
On the one hand, the U.S. military's main intelligence source, the code-breaking team, was unable to provide accurate information because the Japanese army had just started to use new codes and it would take some time to break the code. On the other hand, the Mikawa fleet adopted strict radio silence during the voyage.
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Kelly Turner knew that his landing formation was the primary target of the Japanese army, and the only way from Rabaul to Guadalcanal was through the narrow waterway between the two island chains of the Solomon Islands, which is commonly known as the "Trough Sea".
In his opinion, as long as aerial surveillance of the sea area is strengthened, there should be no security problems.
Therefore, on the 27th, Kelly Turner specially dispatched an additional reconnaissance plane to conduct reconnaissance along the "Trough Sea". However, due to bad weather, the plane returned after failing to complete the flight as ordered, and the pilot
No special circumstances were reported, so Turner knew nothing about the upcoming naval battle.
Mikawa Junichi, who graduated from the Naval War School and Naval University, was a naval admiral with both wisdom and courage. In order to know the enemy well, as early as four o'clock in the morning, he ordered each of the five heavy cruisers to eject a carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft.
He conducted a comprehensive reconnaissance on Guadalcanal and learned about the composition and location of the U.S. fleet. When he learned that the U.S. military had an aircraft carrier in the waters of Guadalcanal, commanding air superiority and having superior strength, he decided to use his own strengths to attack its weaknesses.
, carry out night battles.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Sanchuan sent two more reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance to further find out the situation.
Mikawa Junichi's fleet entered what was later called "Iron Bottom Bay" between Guadalcanal and Tulagi Island.
In the waters, two reconnaissance aircraft were dispatched for the third time to verify the night parking positions of US ships, and dropped flares in the air during night battles to mihuo the US Navy.
It was precisely because Mikawa had conducted repeated reconnaissance that he had a complete grasp of the situation of the U.S. military, which made him full of confidence in the subsequent naval battle. Mikawa decided to enter Iron Bottom Bay from the south of Savo Island to first eliminate the U.S. cruisers and then destroy them.
The transport ship finally withdrew from the north of Savo Island.
After making the decision, he immediately notified all ships of the battle plan through the light signal of the flagship heavy cruiser "Chomi".
When abandoning in the afternoon, the Japanese ship threw all the flammable materials on the deck into the sea and conducted final inspection and preparation of ammunition.
At 10:30 p.m., it was late summer in the southern equatorial region, and the sky had completely darkened. The Japanese fleet, headed by the "Chorikai", lined up in a single column with a distance of 200 meters, rising on the mast.
With a white identification flag, it accelerated to the twenty-eighth knot and broke into the waters of Guadalcanal with murderous intent.
At the same time, Major General Jack Fletcher, the commander of the US aircraft carrier group responsible for sea and air cover, reported the loss of carrier-based aircraft and lack of fuel to the commander of the US South Pacific Fleet, Lieutenant General Gormley, requesting to withdraw. At dusk, he was not approved.
He led the aircraft carrier formation to withdraw from Guadalcanal waters without permission, and was far away from Guadalcanal at 8 p.m.
Major General Turner had no choice but to urgently convene a meeting with Major General Crutchley, commander of the cover formation, and Brigadier General Vandergrift, commander of the 1st Marine Division, to report the sudden situation and announce that due to the loss of air cover, his ships would
Withdrew the next day, although at this time less than a quarter of the supplies for the landing force had been unloaded.
Vandegrift's quasi-soldier protested vigorously, but Turner felt he had no choice but to unload as much material as possible overnight.
The atmosphere of the meeting was very tense, and it still broke up unhappily after several hours.
Just as the meeting ended, Major General Crutchley was halfway back to the flagship by motorboat, and the naval battle began.
The deployment of the U.S. military in Tiedi Bay is: divided into three patrol areas, drawn from the 125-degree extension line of the center point of Savo Island between Guadalcanal and Tulagi Island... divided into two patrol areas in the north and south, and the meridian on the west side of Florida Island.
The east is the East Patrol Area. The southern area is composed of three patrol boats of the First Brigade.
The northern area is guarded by three cruisers and two destroyers of the Second Group. The eastern area is guarded by two cruisers and two destroyers of the Third Group. The other two destroyers patrol west of Savo Island.
, as a radar sentry.
Before Crutchley went to the meeting, he only designated the captain of the cruiser USS Chicago to take command of the patrol in the southern area on his behalf. He had neither specific instructions nor a combat plan.
At one o'clock in the morning on February 28, the Japanese warships arrived in the northwest of Savo Island. The Japanese watchmen were of high quality in night combat and first spotted two patrolling US destroyers. However, the US destroyers equipped with new radars failed to detect the Japanese warships.
, Mikawa led the fleet to implement a clever maneuver and entered Tiedi Bay from between the two US ships, but the US ships were still unaware of it.
Considering that his formation was more than 8,000 meters long, the operating sea area was narrow, and it was night, it would be inconvenient for the formation to operate, so he ordered each ship to fight the cattle on its own according to the combat plan.
At 1:13 in the morning, Mikawa issued a general attack order.
It was not until ten minutes later that the USS Patterson discovered the Japanese ship. It had just issued an alarm via radio: "Attention! The unidentified warship is entering the port!" The Japanese seaplane dropped a flare, which blocked the US ship in the southern area.
It clearly illuminates the Japanese artillery
Bombs and torpedoes came one after another. After the fall of Australia, the cruiser "Canberra", which had been assigned to the British Navy, was hit by two torpedoes on the starboard side, and was hit by 24 shells successively. It lost its combat effectiveness in less than five minutes.
It was sunk by the US military itself after daybreak.
The "Chicago" received an alarm, and the captain ordered to fire flares, but none of the flares ignited. At this moment, the captain discovered that several torpedoes were coming, and immediately turned the steering wheel to avoid it. It was too late, and the bow of the ship was damaged.
A torpedo hit and the mast was damaged
A 203 mm shell hit the "Chicago" and fired back. Due to the high speed of the Japanese ship, it only had time to fire 25 shells at the "Yukaze" destroyer at the end of the Japanese army.
West withdraws from the battle.
The destroyer USS Patterson, which was the first to discover the Japanese ship, engaged in an artillery battle with the Japanese ship. The captain ordered to fire a torpedo, but the torpedo officer did not hear the order and did not execute it. The ship was hit by a Japanese bomb and two naval guns were fired.
The destroyer "Bagley" occupied the firing position, and the captain ordered to launch torpedoes, but Zhu Yuan had not yet set the torpedo firing position. He watched the Japanese ship leave. By the time the torpedo was launched, he could no longer catch up with the retreating Japanese ship.
The ship is gone.
It only took Mikawa six minutes to severely damage the American ships in the southern area, and then headed towards the northern area at full speed.
Since the "Chicago" did not notify the North and East Districts of the battle situation, and because lightning and thunder were heard over the moorings at this time, which covered up the sound of artillery and fire in the South District, the U.S. troops in the North District had no idea that the Japanese troops were approaching.
Captain Liveco, the captain of the cruiser USS Vincennes, was more alert. At 1:45, he felt the ship's hull shaking slightly and saw flashes of artillery fire in the south area, but he mistakenly thought it was a friendly neighbor shooting at the enemy.
The plane did not expect that it was engaging in a naval battle, but instead ordered to prepare for an air-to-air battle.
The Japanese ship approached a distance of 8,000 meters, first turned on the searchlight, and then began to fire all the artillery fire. Liveko thought it was the American ship in the southern area, and used the walkie-talkie to ask the other side to turn off the searchlight, stop firing, and ordered the military flag to be raised to indicate
Because of his own identity, he did not want the Japanese army to respond with more intense artillery fire.
Only then did Liveco understand and ordered to fire back. However, the ship-borne seaplane was soon hit and caught fire, making it an obvious target. The Japanese turned off their searchlights and concentrated their artillery fire on the Vincennes, which was shot repeatedly.
Instead of turning left to evacuate, Japanese torpedoes swarmed in again. Three torpedoes hit the port side and exploded in the engine room. The ship tilted severely to the left and sank.
After the cruiser "Astoria" was attacked, the gunnery commander ordered to fight back. The captain believed that he was hitting one of his own people and ordered to stop shooting. However, the Japanese troops rained bullets without mercy. After the gunnery commander repeatedly pleaded, the ship
Nagai ordered the firing to be resumed, but the Japanese army had already calibrated the target and hit the "Astoria" one after another. The fire broke out and the superstructure was almost completely destroyed. The ship had to retreat to the southeast of Savo Island and sank at noon.
The Japanese army then used searchlights to shine on the cruiser "Quincy". At this time, the "Quincy"'s cannon had not yet turned around, and the shells fired by the Japanese ship had already raised a high water column next to it. The "Quincy" fired its main gun at
The "Chokai" with its searchlight on fired fiercely, hitting two shells. One of the shells hit the bridge. Unfortunately, it missed by five meters and missed the command room where Mikawa was. It hit the chart room next to it. Thirty-four people inside
All staff officers were killed.
Unfortunately, after only two salvos were fired, the captain thought it was a mistaken attack on a friendly ship and ordered to stop firing, thus missing a good opportunity.
The Japanese ship took the opportunity to divide into two columns and attack it from both sides. The Quincy was hit by multiple bombs. At about 2 o'clock, a torpedo launched by the Japanese ship hit the port side. The engine room exploded, igniting a raging fire, and sank soon after. Because the Japanese ship
The attack was concentrated on the US cruisers, but two US destroyers were lucky enough to escape.
At this time, if Sanchuan dropped his fork and attacked the transport ships near the beach, it would be easy. However, he did not know that the US aircraft carrier formation had already left Guadalcanal. He was worried that it would be attacked by US carrier-based aircraft after dawn. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, he
Ordered to return at 2:20 in the morning.
Withdrawing to the vicinity of Savo Island, the Japanese Navy and the US military "Talbot" who served as radar sentries
The U.S. destroyer encountered an encounter. The U.S. ship was outnumbered, was damaged, and caught fire. It reluctantly sailed to Tulagi Island and Mikawa.
The fleet then returned to Rabaul along the "Trough Sea".
In this naval battle, the US military called it the Battle of Savo Island, and the Japanese called it the First Battle of the Solomons. The US military sank four cruisers, damaged one cruiser, two destroyers, and suffered more than 2,000 casualties. The Japanese only had "birds"
The chart room of the USS "Hai" was destroyed and the torpedo tube of the "Qingye" was destroyed. Thirty people were killed and fifty others were injured.
This was the first naval battle between the Japanese and American armies to compete for Guadalcanal. The Japanese army relied on its night fighting skills and pre-battle reconnaissance, and once again used accurate naval guns and torpedo attacks to achieve a one-sided victory. However, Mikawa did not use the US military's
The transport ships were regarded as the main attack targets and were not attacked, which had a very adverse impact on the destruction of Guadalcanal. For this reason, they were criticized by the commander of the base camp and the combined fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
It can be said that the U.S. military was full of loopholes in this naval battle. First of all, the combat deployment was very problematic. The powerful cover formation was divided into three parts and patrolled in separate areas. There was neither comprehensive consideration nor perfect communication and coordination, which was taken advantage of by the enemy.
They were defeated one by one. Secondly, they misjudged the enemy's situation and were not prepared for battle. In addition, the officers and soldiers lacked vigilance, weak fighting will, lack of proactive cooperation with friends and neighbors, slow communication, and poor reconnaissance, etc., which led to the failure of the battle.
The defeat at the Battle of Savo Island caused a great sensation in the United States.
The resources of the United States are not endless. Building ships requires a large amount of materials, which will inevitably reduce the production of army weapons and equipment.
To this end, the U.S. government once again submitted a bill to Congress to "order aid supplies to the Soviet Union from South China." Army Commander-in-Chief General George Marshall went to Capitol Hill to explain it in person. Finally, the bill was passed with an overwhelming majority, and South China obtained the coveted
orders, the Soviet Union also received much-needed resources, and the war headed towards an unknown track.!