afterglow

Chapter 578: For the sake of the court, let’s help the brothers! You have to clean the house before you can treat guests to dinner
The Ming army's scouts have been particularly active in the past two days, which often indicates that a stormy attack will soon usher in. Therefore, the US military units on Molokai are highly vigilant and ready.

At the junction of the two fronts, sporadic gunshots were heard intermittently, and occasionally there were a few sudden roars.

At first glance, this looks like a normal confrontation.

The U.S. artillery has been firing for half a month, and it seems that endless large and small artillery shells are poured into the place where the Ming Army's 14th Infantry Division is located.

But what they didn't know was that on the beach in the northwest of the island, groups of Ming troops were quickly boarding ships and evacuating.

The midnight hour has passed and time has come to a new month.

It took four hours and a quarter of an hour before more than a thousand sick and wounded patients and more than two thousand service personnel from the 14th Division boarded the ship.

There were many scattered mistakes throughout the process, but they were all resolved one by one and it was incredibly smooth.

At 12:1 a.m. on December 4, the Navy sent back a coded telegram indicating that the evacuation operation was successfully completed.

The pounding heart in Zhou Changfeng's chest was finally relieved, and he took three deep breaths.

"Fuck you, cut the goods!" The captain who led the team cursed and raised his hand to look at his watch, "We can't wait, leave a few to help, the others will go first, and those who are willing to stay will come out!"

The Ming army's response fleet set sail from Pearl Harbor, and just like the previous two times, it easily crossed the strait of dozens of kilometers and arrived at Molokai Island.

"Each squad will arrange some troops!"

Even the president who is far away in Washington has repeatedly stressed not to take it lightly. He is paying close attention to the war in Hawaii and urges us to fight steadily and strive for victory.

As of this moment, the US military has not realized that the Ming army has quietly evacuated most of the troops on the island.

Operation Fuling was carried out in strict accordance with the original plan, and the second evacuation was carried out today.

Zhou Changfeng criticized this self-talking behavior. He once again emphasized that equipment can only be considered after evacuating personnel.

The third operation was about to begin on the evening of December 12.

6艘驱逐舰、4艘登陆舰、4艘猎潜舰、3艘扫雷舰、6艘鱼雷艇在紧锣密鼓的进行加油和检查程序，预计五小时后准时从珍珠港启程，前往莫洛凯岛拯救余下的所有陆军同袍。

They laid a large number of booby traps made of grenades or blasting tubes on the forward position before leaving, hoping to leave some surprises for the enemy.

This phenomenon can be explained from psychology - after people do something wrong, they will want to do something to make up for their mistakes in order to seek psychological comfort.

The efficiency was so high that it was beyond imagination. Seeing that there was plenty of time, everyone took it upon themselves to move a dozen howitzers onto the ship.

"Three rows in line!"

Even if the first two operations are completed successfully, we must not relax our vigilance because of this. Once encountering an enemy attack, the destroyer should do its best to cover the escape of the fleet.

At 22:14, the response fleet arrived as scheduled, but a small accident occurred during the period - a torpedo boat had a mechanical failure and was forced to return.

In order to prepare for a possible offensive by the Ming army, the Hawaii Island Command also decided to dispatch a regiment to reinforce Molokai Island to further strengthen defense.

"The trick of suspecting soldiers is very effective. (The US military) must have mistakenly thought that we will continue to fight." Xie Wancheng said happily.

Suddenly, the Sunda No. 25 torpedo boat on alert to the north of the fleet used a light signal to warn, and then broke the radio silence.

Yesterday it was the wounded, sick and service personnel who were evacuated. Today it was the turn of the combatants - the 42nd Regiment, the 14th Mountain Artillery Regiment, the Engineer Battalion, and the Scout Battalion, which suffered the most casualties.

However, many units were missing people. Under the night of artillery fire, some people were still separated.

Is this prudence or cowardice? Perhaps both.

If a modern drone uses a thermal imager to look down at this moment, what comes into view are bursts of fireballs - those are the explosions of US artillery shells. At the same time, countless white people are marching like ants in the ravines, from ten to ten. Multiple directions converge towards the northwest.

At 12:3 on December 2, two-thirds of the remaining officers and soldiers had boarded the ship.

"There are two people missing in a row!"

"Good thing, great thing. The enemy is not active at all. They are probably scared by us." Yao Liangchuan secretly rejoiced, but still clenched his fists tightly when speaking.

Zhou Changfeng ordered the naval officers and soldiers to carefully review yesterday's experience, sum up experience, and minimize mistakes and accidents.

As time passed by, hundreds of soldiers trudged along the beach, boarded small boats and sailed towards the fleet anchored offshore.

The next day, August 12th.

Zhao Hanfeng breathed a long sigh of relief, "I hope they will be more cautious. As long as they are slower, the Fourteenth Division will be able to escape unscathed."

"One person is missing from the second row!"

"Nothing is more important than people now. You can't be greedy. Greed is the reason for 90% of wrong things." He admonished.

The US 25th Division generally believes that this is the calm before the storm. They feel that the Ming army has been continuously airdropping supplies these days and must have accumulated a lot of strength. There is bound to be a hard battle next.

Under normal circumstances, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, who are extravagant and extravagant, don't care about weapons and equipment. If they feel sorry for them, they feel sorry for them too. Why should we care about fighting with our lives?
But this time, they behaved unusually and were particularly caring.

Because there were no sick or wounded who wasted time, the action was faster this time, and everyone was on board in just two hours.

In fact, the current purpose of the US military can be described as "strengthening the stronghold and fighting stupid wars".

当天经过清点，一共送回4318名官兵、13门112㎜榴弹炮、3门特种清障迫击炮、7具火焰喷射器和诸多器材。

That night.

Groups of soldiers trotted through the intricate traffic trenches, retreating quickly toward the northwest.

With the experience of the first two times, the navy believed that it was more than capable and could easily complete the last mission.

Zhou Changfeng was worried that the officers and soldiers were overconfident and underestimated the enemy. Before setting off, he once again ordered that they must go all out. Those who underestimated the enemy and neglected them would be severely punished.

At this time, the crisp and melodious sound of gongs echoed in the west of Molokai. Against the background of the roar of enemy artillery, the gongs signaling retreat sounded intermittent.

"The enemy torpedo boats are attacking!"

Ten seconds later, Xunzi No. 25 began to fire into the dark night with anti-aircraft guns, and rounds of armor-piercing tracer bullets tore through the darkness!

Subsequently, flares and searchlights were activated one after another, and several torpedo boats were immediately revealed.

About four kilometers away, a total of three PT torpedo boats were seen approaching at high speed in a right trapezoid formation. They came through the waves at an astonishing speed, cutting into the Ming army's response fleet at a speed of up to 36 knots.

The Ming warship immediately opened fire, and the Zhiqing No. 32 submarine hunting ship locked its searchlight on the PT-112. Then it opened fire and fired mm anti-explosive bombs one after another at the small wooden ship with only more than tons. Boat!

The 1st Torpedo Boat Squadron was ordered today to perform their first actual combat mission since forming the army-to patrol the waters west of Molokai and fire freely if there is an opportunity.

【Picture】

These British-technology U.S. military torpedo boats showed flexibility and bravery, and were not timid in the face of intensive firepower. PT-32 and PT-34 were hit respectively during the charge. Both were damaged and hurriedly turned around and retreated.

Another PT-33 aimed at the largest landing ship in the visual distance less than two kilometers away and launched two 533mm torpedoes, then released a smoke screen and quickly turned right and fled.

A few minutes later, some sailors claimed to have seen the explosion flash, and many others said they heard loud noises. The captain mistakenly ordered to slow down and turn around in order to confirm the results of the battle.

However, the two torpedoes were actually far away from the target, and the PT-33 was also targeted by the overcoming destroyer Wuqing, which had five single-mounted 5mm naval guns and many anti-aircraft guns.

For a moment, bullets rained down, and the terrible firepower immediately enveloped the small boat and tore it into pieces!

However, these three torpedo boats were not the only ones participating in the battle. Just four minutes later, two more torpedo boats, PT-37 and PT-38, came out from the northwest of the fleet!
Several minesweepers and submarine hunting ships fired fiercely at the two. Under the pale light of the flares, countless light traces converged on the two torpedo boats that broke through the waves, causing dozens of water jets to splash around them at the same time.

The two hurriedly launched torpedoes and ran away in a hurry. PT-38 escaped with minor injuries, and PT-37 had only one engine running due to mechanical failure.

Half an hour later, the boat was caught up, surrounded, annihilated and sunk by three Ming army Sunda-type torpedo boats.

"Boom!!!"

Among them, a 38mm heavy torpedo launched by PT-533 hit a minesweeper. She quickly sank due to structural damage. Hundreds of sailors and army officers and soldiers who boarded the ship to evacuate were floating at sea after abandoning the ship.

Fortunately, the 14th Infantry Division was organized in Jiujiang Prefecture, and almost everyone could swim. Otherwise, at least dozens of people would have drowned today.

"Get people quickly!"

The U.S. Army and Navy obviously have miscommunication. The torpedo boat unit's great discovery during the operation did not attract much attention. The Navy thought that the Ming army was "transporting supplies at night" and suggested that the Army carry out operations on that beach. shelling, but the news did not arrive until seven hours later.

Navy Captain Fan Lilin, who was at the scene and commanded the evacuation, felt something bad and worried that the U.S. military had discovered its intentions.

It would be terrible if we came here to chase and intercept him now!
He anxiously urged to speed up the evacuation and ordered some of the slower warships to return first, while the remaining destroyers and torpedo boats continued to wait.

Several days of moonless nights have passed, and now a Emei moon can be seen hanging in the middle among the brilliant stars.

At 3:40, the th Division headquarters finally evacuated.

Four traffic boats carrying dozens of division personnel approached the destroyer Wuqing. Chief of Staff Lei Fu climbed the rope net one after another to board the deck of the destroyer; division commander Zheng Shiquan fell ill with malaria and had a high fever and was placed in a hanging basket. Up.

"Is everything ready? It's time to go." Fan Lilin asked with an anxious look.

"Each ministry has its own individuals who are separated..."

"Give me the order to return to port!" Before Lei Fu finished speaking, Fan Lilin waved his hand and gave the order.

"Don't! There are still dozens of people on the island!"

"Don't you understand the principle of petty loss? The order I received is to organize your troops and evacuate them. If you delay any longer, the enemy will come after you."

"There are not many people left. The big ship will go first, leaving only two small boats." Lei Fu pointed to several torpedo boats not far away, and sincerely asked with clasped fists: "For the sake of the imperial court, please give me a ride with my brothers." Bundle!"

Fan Lilin, expressionless, turned around and ordered: "Sunda 26 and Sunda 29 will stay to accommodate those who are late, and the rest of the ships will return to port."

"The battle has not been won. I have to take all the people back, otherwise I will not be able to face Jiangdong's father." The frustrated Lei Fu sighed, and then burst into tears.

Fan Lilin patted his shoulder and hesitated. After a few seconds, he said with relief: "There is no ever-victorious army. General Zhou is right. This time we fought the wrong battle at the wrong time." , the fault was in the temple, not a crime of war.”

Several destroyers turned around one after another, and then formed a single column, heading towards the destination that was very close to the navy, leaving behind a few tracks reflecting the moonlight...

At this time, in the Ming army's position in the northern part of Molokai Island, a dozen figures were walking quickly.

These separated soldiers came from many units and had never met before. They all got together into a small team by accident.

They broke into an artillery position. There were many airdrop boxes scattered around, and there were a few embers of burned and destroyed documents on the ground. Sparks still appeared when the wind blew.

"anyone there?!"

"Where are the people! They've all run away? You're holding back!"

Several powerful Type 112 and mm howitzers have been destroyed. It can be seen that their interrupted threaded breech blocks have been melted and deformed. Apparently they had been stuffed with thermite.

Everyone was cautious and did not dare to touch randomly for fear of triggering the booby traps laid by friendly forces.

Because they had already suffered a loss a quarter of an hour ago - two people curiously went to get the canned fruit on the table inside the shelter, and were seriously injured by the explosion.

After walking for several miles, no organized units were encountered except for the same separated people.

They continued to move northwest, no one wanted to be abandoned in this ghost place.

At this time, three consecutive red flares shot into the sky, which was exactly the direction they were heading!

Everyone was in high spirits and ran to the beach faster.

The two torpedo boats had received more than 30 people one after another at this time, and they decided to make a final confirmation before leaving.

Fortunately, the last team arrived in time. They shouted, ran and fired, as if they were grasping at straws for fear that the other party would not hear.

The two torpedo boats immediately fired flares, thinking that they were being pursued by the US military. They were relieved when they discovered that it was their own people.

The dozen or so people approached in the water, but the two torpedo boats were already crowded with people, and the draft reached the limit. Xunzi 26 and Xunzi 29 had no choice but to shoot expensive torpedoes toward the distant sea to reduce their weight.

Now everyone is on board.

The soldiers shouted in unison toward the land: "Is there anyone else? Is there anyone else?"

Everyone listened, but there was silence and no response.

The two torpedo boats began to accelerate, and the new tracks covered the torpedo tracks.

December 12th, 4:5, when the sun is about to rise.

People on the Pearl Harbor dock looked at the two torpedo boats "returning fully loaded" in surprise, and then cheered.

At the headquarters of the Hawaii Expeditionary Force, a staff officer stroked his chest and saluted, saying: "Let me tell you, as of now, the entire 14th Division has withdrawn, but there may still be a few soldiers stranded on the island."

"Okay, I understand." Zhou Changfeng took a long puff of cigarette, "Get ready for the plane, I want to go back to Beijing."

In the past few days, he had been working day and night and was highly nervous. Now that the evacuation operation had successfully concluded, the tight string suddenly loosened.

"Why don't you stay at Junzuo for two more days?" Xie Wancheng said very relaxedly: "This Oahu island is now in good order."

"The mess here has been cleaned up. It's time to go back." Zhou Changfeng threw the cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it with his feet. "You have to clean your house first before you can treat us to dinner, right?"

【Action Diagram】

(End of this chapter)