拯救飞行员--布干维尔岛战役之插曲3

胸口碎大石

Thomas shoot hung empty in the tree, the only clue the Japanese would find when they came to look for Minase and his men.







Back at the Numa Numa Trail, Cpl Kimura and Pfc Genji heard two gunshots off in the distance. Then nothing.







“Those were not Arisaka shots, Corporal-san”

“No, they were not. This is not good.”
Return to Friendly Lines – Chapter 5: The Piva Trail

0700 6 Nov 1943 – 3d Raider Bn listening post on the Piva Trail. Dawn came slowly through Bougainville’s triple canopy jungle. Gunny Bronson’s Marines had been in position since sunset the previous evening.






Pfc Castle and Cpl Vincette, and his dog Duke, were on watch. Castle manned his massive .50 Boys rifle, keeping an eye on the trail.






G-2 had said that the Japs may throw light tanks at the Marine lines. If their small Ha-Go tanks was actually able to navigate the jungle trails from southern Bougainville, they would not be able to deploy from their column at this point in the trail. The LP had orders to stop the first tank, block the trail, and call for reinforcements. There were rumors of a new rocket system that would come out soon for this, but no one had seen it yet. Until such a day came, a .50 through the engine block was the best way they had to defeat enemy armor.

Sgt Frazetti was drawing chow from the K-Rations that they had humped up the trail with them from Torokina, where the Marines had established a beachhead a only few days before. Gunny Bronson and Pfc Romano, had come off watch at 0500 and were trying to catch some precious sleep.






Veterans of Guadalcanal and New Georgia, they knew the score. They slept with weapons close at hand.






As the rhythm of the jungle sounds transitioned from day to night, Gunny Bronson dozed in a light cat nap beneath his rain poncho.


Duke, Cpl Vincettes’s war dog, stirred. His ears perked up and he looked intently to the southwest. Vincette gave a sharp “psst!” to Sergeant Frazetti, who was giving the hourly sitrep to Battalion, speaking quietly into his new handy-talkie. “Get the Gunny over here”, said Vincette bairly above a whisper, “Duke is on to something.”






Without a word, Frazetti shook the Gunny and pointed toward Duke.






Bronson awoke immediately, eyes open and alert – he made no sound.


“Da dog’s got somethin’, Gunny”, Frazetti whispered.






Gunny Bronson slipped noiselessly from his poncho and moved over to Vincette. The past two years of jungle fighting had honed the skills he had begun to learn as a young private fighting bandits in Nicaragua. Frazetti readied his Thompson.






“What is it Vincette?”

“Duke’s on to something. It’s to our southwest.”, Vincette replied.

“Japs?” asked the gunny. The southwest would indicate that someone was circling around their right flank.

“I don’t think so, Gunny. He’d be more hostile if it were – but something’s definitely there.”


“Frazetti, wake Romano.”, the gunny softly whispered, “ Vincette and I will go check this out. You two and Castle hold down the LP. Get Battalion on the horn. If there is another patrol out there, I want to make sure they know we’re friendlies.”

“Aye, aye, Gunny” whispered the sergeant in reply.






As Romano slid out of his poncho, the gunny crept over to Pfc Castle…






“Castle.”

胸口碎大石

The giant Marine’s head turned toward the gunny.

“Vincette and I are taking the dog to check things out to the southwest. Keep your eyes peeled. If a Jap tank comes down the trail, you know what to do.”

“Roger that, Gunny”, said Castle in a deep whisper.






After making sure that Castle new his orders, Gunny Bronson crept over to his rifleman / grenadier, Pfc Romano.

“Romano, remember any tanks will be accompanied by infantry. Fire your rifle grenades to button up the tank and keep the supporting infantry’s heads down.”






As Gunny Bronson briefed the men, Cpl.Vincette and Duke crept over to thesouthwest edge of the LP. Vincette was on loan to the Raiders from 3d Marine Division’s K-9 Company. They were a new unit. Vincette had enlisted after Pearl harbor, and wasn’t one of the “Old Corps” Marines like the Gunny. He had seen action on Guadalcanal, though before being selected to go back the states for the start of the war dog program. He knew the jungle as well as the others.


“Easy boy.” Vincette whispered soothingly to his dog.






Sgt Frazetti and his Marine were alert and ready. If the Japs came down the trail, the Raiders would give good account of themselves.






“You and the dog ready, Corporal?” whispered the Gunny. “Yes, Gunny. Duke’s still fixed on somethin’.”

“Let’s move out, then.”


As the Gunny and Vincette moved out behind Duke’s deliberate footsteps, Frazetti radioed in to Battalion: “Black Cat, this is Python. Python actual and rover are headed southwest. Rover has sensed somethin’. Advise any friendlies of their approach, over.”






“Roger that, Python, I copy Python Actual and Rover headed southwest from your position. No known friendlies in area. Black Cat out.”

胸口碎大石

Return to Friendly Lines – Chapter 6: The Link-up



Bougainville, south of Numa Numa trail, 0500 6 November, 1943.


The Coastwatchers Leftenant Van der Haanks and Constable Styles of the Solomon Islands Defense Force were up and moving as soon as the barest shred of light shown through the triple canopy jungle, along with their new found companion 1stLt Mike Thomas of VMF-121.

Thomas, who had crashed through the treetops and been rescued by Van der Haanks and Styles the day before, struggled to keep up with the two coastwatchers. He was used to looking at the jungle from a much different perspective. This was definitely not his element.

Like all Marine officers, Thomas had first been trained to be an infantry officer. Now the field problems of Quantico seemed like a distant memory.

Lt Thomas’ thoughts drifted back over the past two years: there had been flight training in Pensacola, then checking out in the Wildcat at a little field called "El Toro" in the orange fields south of Los Angeles. That's where he had learned to dogfight. “or so I thought”, he mused to himself as they plodded along the game trail. After El Toro, there were the two destroyer rides across the Pacific, arrival on Espirito Santo and his introduction to the Vought F4U Corsair:

"The bent winged Ensign-killer", they called it. Too many swabbies had been killed in crashes. “But once you got the hang of it - boy, it was one heck of an aircraft....”

Van der Haanks led the little refugee band through the jungle darkness as Styles watched their tail. Thomas’ hand steadily gripped his .45. "Where are we going?" whispered Thomas, afraid that the whole jungle could here his every word.

His crash through the trees, quick rescue, and exhaustion that came with it had sent him into an immediate slumber as soon as they halted the previous evening.

"To the bloody Yank lines, of course!" came Van der Haanks, terse whispered reply.

They slogged on southward through the jungle.

Constable Styles, a Solomon Islander, turned every third or fourth step to watch the rear. Enfield at the ready....

Elsewhere in the jungle, Duke, the German shepherd war dog, continued to lead his handler Cpl Vincette and the patrol leader Gunnery Sergeant Bronson on to the southwest, then west of the Raider’s LP on the Piva Trail.

Picking-up on Duke’s signal that someone or something was approaching, Vincette steadied his K-9 friend with one hand and pointed his trenchgun out in front with the other.

Behind them, Gunny Bronson worked the bolt on his Thompson, chambering a round.

The two Marines halted, weapons at the ready. If whatever was approaching turned out to be a Japanese patrol, it was going to be filled with lead.

Duke, gave a small bark, and a short wag of his tail. "Easy boy", said Vincette. The tension eased as the Marines realized that it wasn’t the Japs - but who the hell was it??

The Gunny then spotted one of those Aussie cowboy hats breaking through the brush. He had seen them on New Zealand before heading to Guadalcanal. Not knowing what else to make of it, he issued the traditional challenge, finger still on the trigger - of course: "Halt! Who goes there?"

“Easy, Yank!” called out Van der Haanks in his oddly accented Dutch-Australian accent. “Leftenant Van der Haanks and Constable Styles of the Coastwatchers…and we’ve got one of your mates with us.”

“Come forth and be recognized” said the Gunny, being mindful not to raise his voice above a conversational tone. Just because these guys didn’t appear to be the enemy didn’t mean that they weren’t around.

胸口碎大石

“Lt. Thomas, VMF-121”, said the Lieutenant as he pushed past Van der Haanks. “I was shot down yesterday, and almost captured by the Japs when these guys came along and rescued me.”

“Gunnery Sergeant Bronson, Sir, 3rd Raider Bn.”, replied the Gunny.

“You’re d#@n lucky, Lieutenant. I’ve seen what the Japs do to prisoners.”

Van der Haanks quickly filled the raiders in on who they were and what they had seen of the enemy during their trek.

“Hmmh. Gentlemen, let’s get back to the LP. Once we get there, I’ll call Battalion and have them send a runner to bring you back through the lines. Lieutenant, get rid of that Mae West. You won’t need it anymore.”

With that, the coastwatchers and the Marines headed back east–northeast toward the LP on the Piva Trail.

0800 3rd Raider Bn CP, Cape Torokina, Bougainville: The battalion operations officer, Major Lafferty, and Lt. Dan Powers, the Weapons Co. CO and Operations watch officer, discussed what the Gunny and the dog handler may have found…

“Sir what do you think got the dog’s attention if its not Japs? We don’t have any other patrols out right now.”, said Lt. Powers as he sucked on a coffin nail.

The stale Jacky Strike cigarettes had become a constant presence in the South Pacific. Loved and hated by soldier, sailor, and Marine alike, they were synonymous with the war itself.

“I haven’t the foggiest Dan – I just hope that they are not being fooled into an ambush. This new war dog program is proving useful, but maybe the Japs have thought of a way to trick the dogs.”

As the two officers discussed the situation, Pfc Raincloud’s headset crackled to life: “Black Cat, this is Python. We have enemy on the trail…”

Lt Powers quickly looked up from his conversation with the major: “Watcha got Raincloud?”

“LP reports sighting the enemy, Sir, then they dropped off the net.”

Castle saw it first: the vague outline of a man emerging from the jungle foliage down the trail. “Psst. Sergeant – Japs.”

Sgt. Frazetti pushed the transmit button on his handy-talkie and quickly began his report to the Battalion CP: “Black Cat, this is Python. We have enemy on the trail. We have one, wait - we have more enemy…” Sgt. Frazetti took his finger off the transmit button.

More Japanese infantry were appearing on the trail, and they were only 30 some yards away. Frazetti quickly turned off the radio. He couldn’t afford to alert the Japs with a squeltch from the small platoon radio.

…At least he didn’t hear the hum of a tank engine.

As the Sergeant made his report, Pfc Romano picked up a rifle grenade and quietly fastened it to the end of his rifle.

Tension rose among the three Marines on the LP as a Jap squad came into view and halted in front of their position. So far, they hadn’t been seen.

Beyond the infantry on the trail, the Marines could hear some commotion going on but they couldn’t tell what was causing it.
Return to Friendly Lines, Chapter 7 - The Ambush


Bougainville, 0810, 6 November 1943, east of Piva Trail…

Cpl. Vincette and his German Shepherd war dog, Duke, were on point, as Gunny Bronson guided the refugee Coastwatchers and the newly rescued Corsair pilot back toward the LP on the Piva Trail. Constable Styles continued his previous role of “tail-end Charlie”, turning every few steps to make sure no one was sneaking up from behind.

Superior Private Ichihara along with the rest of the men in his section, moved ever so slowly southward through the jungle. They were in a skirmish line perpendicular to the east side of the Piva trail. It was slow going, but they had been told that the main trail would be used for the assault force. The soldiers were to move forward until they found the Gaijin line, and then hold until the signal was given for a breaching assault. Ichihara, could only assume that other units of the 23rd were doing the same thing on the other side of the trail.

As Vincette led the small band of Marines and Coastwatchers back to the LP, he suddenly stopped and took a knee…Duke was standing still. Vincette could here his low growl and feel the hairs rising up on his back. Gunny Bronson came forward to see what was the matter.

“JAPS!” Yelled the Gunny, as two Japanese soldiers came into view. “BRAA-AAT-AAT-AAT”! The Gunny instantly shouldered his Thompson and began firing. The loud buzz saw like noise of the Thompson cut through the stillness of the jungle.

The Gunny continued firing, .45 shell casings flying. Vincette and Lt. Thomas were still trying to pick out targets in the dense underbrush.

At the head of the small column, Cpl Vincette had joined the Gunny firing rapidly with his trench gun, as the yell of “Banzai!” and loud crashing could be heard from their right flank. Lt Thomas turned, as Van der Haanks and brought his Lee-Enfield jungle carbine to bear.

“AAAGH!” The screams of the Japanese infantry added to the cacophony of noise as they burst out of the underbrush into Van der Haanks and Styles. The fighting was now too close for the Coastwatchers' bolt action rifles. Styles rammed his Enfield into the side of a Jap, parrying a bayonet thrust.

It did little good. The Japanese infantryman thrust again, this time managing to stick the long Arisaka bayonet into Van der Haanks side. Lt Thomas began firing his .45 rapidly at another on-coming Japanese.

“BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!” Thomas fired into the Japs at point blank range as Gunny Bronson continued pouring out fire from his Thompson into the Jap line.

Vincette yelled, “Duke – ATTACK!”

The German Shepherd leaped forward and chomped into the Japanese soldiers leg as Vincette continued to fire his shotgun into the Japanese.

Amid the frenzy, all Thomas could see was the long bayonet coming straight at his face. He continued to fire.