Chapter 17 Chapter 12 The Attack of the Enemy Plane on Turuk Base

In January 1944, the submarine Lu｜44 under my command was ordered to sail to the waters of the Solomon Islands to carry out the task of destroying the communication lines behind the enemy.During this period, many submarines were sunk by the enemy while performing the above tasks, so we need to be very careful, especially in the choice of routes.According to our estimates, there are very few air routes outside the radius of action of enemy submarines and patrol aircraft.If it is necessary to pass through the sea area within the radius of activity of enemy aircraft, it has to sail under water no matter day or night.After making the necessary preparations, Lu｜44 set sail.The boat was air-conditioned, but after crossing the equator, it was still very hot inside and everyone was very uncomfortable.

As we approached Turok Island, we saw that the night sky was glowing red with flames, and there were dense explosions from time to time.We knew right away that the situation there was irreversible.We patrolled the area around Turk for four days, surfacing at night and diving underwater during the day, waiting to meet the enemy.The one-month food reserve on the boat was almost exhausted.At last we received the order to enter Turuk Bay.It was very difficult, and very dangerous, to choose a route into the bay, for we had to find a way among the sunken ships.In spite of all difficulties, we entered the bay in relative safety.The horror of capsized and sunken ships, with their masts out of water, was so appalling that we dropped anchor near the submarine base.The submarine supply ship had been bombed and sunk at her usual anchorage, and all the valuable supplies had gone with it to the bottom of the sea.

I went ashore and reported to the Chief of Staff.The chief of staff, having not heard from us for a long time, thought we were sunk.Submarine Lu｜No. 39 sent the last telegram from the vicinity of Wozhijie Island, but it could not be translated because the message was ambiguous.Since then, there has been no news of it.As for its sinking process, no one knows so far. After the U.S. military occupied the Marshall Islands, it accelerated its offensive in the Western Pacific. On February 17, 1944, a powerful U.S. aircraft carrier task force attacked the Turk base, the inevitable result of the enemy's occupation of the Marshall Islands.When our army fought in the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands, Turuk had been the base of the Combined Fleet (later, the Combined Fleet was forced to move to the Palau Islands).

On the day the enemy attacked Turk, our patrol aircraft conducted reconnaissance in areas where the enemy might appear.The weather was so bad that day that only half of the patrol aircraft were on duty, and all returned to base before the enemy attacked.When the storm was at its strongest, the enemy approached Turuk.After a while, a large number of planes taking off from the enemy aircraft carrier suddenly appeared over Turuk.The first target of the enemy planes was the Taksima Air Base.Fighters at the base scrambled to intercept enemy planes, but some of them didn't even have ammunition.Almost all the planes that took off were shot down.The loss of our planes amounted to 180.Six combat ships and twenty-six transports in the bay were also sunk.The enemy battleship also shelled one of our important oil depots, causing a fire that burned for several days, just in time for the nocturnal enemy B|17 aircraft to illuminate the attack target.

In this case, Rabaul has lost its role as an air base.Consequently, the air forces stationed here were transferred elsewhere, and the Solomon Islands were surrendered to the enemy.Thus.We had to abandon the outer circle and proceed to organize the defense of the inner circle.In other words, our army's line of defense has shifted from the Saipan | Guam line to the Philippines | Okinawa line.If we lose the inner circle again, then the Japanese mainland will be attacked. Submarines stationed at Rabaul also left the site after the transfer of the air force.After that, the submarine took on the task of transporting food to the besieged defenders of Mili Island (Marshall Islands).The four submarines left Turk at the height of the enemy bombing.Food and tobacco were packed in special wooden barrels and fixed on the decks of the boats: ammunition for 25mm artillery was loaded in the cabin.After the submarine passes through the dangerous sea area with enemy submarine activities underwater, it also sails on the surface during the day.Unfortunately, the grain barrels mounted on the deck began to loosen; despite reducing the speed, all the grain barrels fell overboard before reaching the designated point.So, we had to go back to base, make the necessary repairs, and start all over again.We loaded our provisions and sailed again.

Passing the waters near the enemy-occupied Marshall Islands, we sailed underwater to avoid detection; otherwise, the voyage would have failed.At that time, we were very worried that the enemy already knew our plan, because the enemy might have obtained the code from the defenders on the island.Although we had changed to the new code, the announcement that we were sailing to Meli Island was still made under the old code.We passed Jaluit Island safely and headed towards Mili Island.That night, the moonlight was bright.Suddenly, on the horizon straight ahead, we saw what appeared to be the mast of a warship, and we dived quickly.It was later seen through the periscope that it was a battleship with two aircraft carriers behind it.What a godsend opportunity!We increased the speed, trying to get as close to the enemy ship as possible.The battleship is already very close to us, and the aircraft carrier is a little farther away.At a critical juncture, the enemy ship suddenly changed its course, maybe they have discovered the submarine.So we surfaced and gave chase.However, the enemy ship was moving very fast, and we were still unable to get close to the salvo distance.An hour later we spotted the mast of another warship and immediately descended to periscopic depth.In the periscope we saw six destroyers approaching us rapidly in single file.These destroyers may be the guard ships of the aircraft carriers and battleships we previously discovered, or they may be a dedicated anti-submarine ship formation.In order not to be discovered by the enemy, the submarine was forced to change its course.We continued to observe with the periscope and confirmed that the enemy ships were indeed sailing in a single line, which was a good opportunity to attack.To attack or not to attack?At this time, the torpedoes were ready, but the sailing order stipulated that our main tasks were to deliver food and conduct reconnaissance.If the target of the attack is a battleship or an aircraft carrier, we are of course entitled to disobey the above order.But attacking other targets is not allowed.So we had to give up our attempt to attack.After the enemy ship disappeared on the horizon, we surfaced.The long-term underwater voyage has consumed a lot of battery power, so we rushed to charge the battery on the way to Mili Island.At dawn, we dived underwater again.The submarine arrived at Milli Island the next night and began reconnaissance of the intended unloading site.That night, the moonlight was bright, the visibility was good, and no enemy was found.According to the original regulations, the submarine should release the grain barrels underwater; but judging from the situation at the time, it seems that this is not necessary.We flagged to shore to ask whether the waterway ahead was possible.After getting an affirmative answer, the submarine sailed into the island.The enemy's reconnaissance planes often come at night, so we still decided to release the grain barrels underwater.After the unloading was safely completed, we surfaced and established contact with the second-in-command of the forces ashore, from whom we obtained some trophies.The garrison troops on the island have been looking forward to family letters and food for a long time. They all live in the jungle, and enemy planes bomb here every day.

The soldiers who came to carry supplies seemed to prefer cigarettes to food.We gave them a box of cigarettes, and all the cigarettes we smoked.The extent of their addiction to tobacco really astonishes me, a non-smoker.We all sympathize with them, because their situation is very bad. At this time, we knew nothing about the situation on Majuro Island, fifty miles from Mili Island.We must sail to the island to ascertain the situation on the spot.Therefore, we request the Commander of Milli Island Garrison to inform the submarine about the departure of the submarine with the new code. At around 19:00, we left Mili Island.The day before, enemy planes had laid some mines on the island's exit, but most of them fell ashore.Even so, our nerves were tense when we set sail.However, when we passed the exit, nothing happened, and the submarine then sailed towards Majuro Island.

At 23:00 on March 12, we found a red light in front of us, and we conducted a speed dive.From the periscope, we see more and more red lights.Suddenly, a row of lights appeared in front of us, like a torchlight procession.Much like an airport.I ordered the crew to rest and wait for dawn.At 3:30 the next morning, the sky was already bright.What we used as an airfield yesterday turned out to be a group of warships anchored in Majuro Island.Among them are an aircraft carrier, eight battleships and several tank landing ships.We were only five hundred meters away from the nearest battleship.I immediately ordered to prepare the periscope for photography.Then, we realized that if the submarine got too close to the enemy ship, our transport mission would be impossible.We saw twin-propeller planes taking off and landing on the aircraft carrier. After observing the enemy for some time, we retreated to a safe distance to recharge.After dark, we headed out on the water to reconnaissance the entrance to Majuro Island.Visibility was poor at this time due to fog, but the sea was relatively calm.Suddenly, we spotted an enemy aircraft carrier and immediately dived to dodge it.It seems that the aircraft carrier returned after the battle, and it did not find us.When the submarine surfaced to the periscope depth again, it found a dark shadow on the horizon, which looked like a destroyer.We turned 180° and left the place.At dawn, it was confirmed that our speculation was completely correct. The black shadow was indeed a destroyer. It should be said that because we had special telescopes, we could find the enemy in time every time.

After a while we turned back on our original course, but for a long time we did not see the coast.Later, the submarine approached a small island, and there seemed to be an airport on the island.But we did not see the enemy plane, which shows that our judgment was wrong.After rounding the island, continue sailing west.Suddenly, we heard the sound of a patrol ship's propeller.It was later discovered that there were two enemy destroyers in total.We evaded and did not surface until 18:00 on March 13, that is, after 20 hours of submersion. At this time, I reported to the commander of the United Fleet that an enemy aircraft carrier, eight battleships and some other large ships were found anchored in Majuro Island.Medium bombers are also stationed at the island's airfield.After the batteries had been charged, I sent another detailed report to headquarters on the composition of the enemy's forces.We successfully completed the mission and returned to Turk at the end of March.On the way back, we found a transport ship, and after asking the headquarters, we found out that it was our own transport ship.

Once in Turuk, I went ashore to make a formal report to the headquarters.The command staff asked me why I didn't attack the destroyer.I said that I was acting according to the orders of my superiors, that is to say, our reconnaissance mission was not completed until the report on the concentration of enemy ships on Majuro Island was issued.To be honest, I am also very sorry for not attacking the enemy ship.Incidentally, what surprised me at the time was that all four submarines on this voyage returned safely to Turk.Although not all submarines have completed the prescribed mission, it has not been seen for a long time that all submarines that have sailed to perform combat missions can return to base safely.About four months later, towards the end of the battle on Saipan, the captains of the other three submarines were killed in battle, and only I survived.

The Yi｜32 submarine once again delivered food and ammunition to Mili Island, but it disappeared before reaching its destination.Presumably it was attacked by US patrolling forces.We did not know until after the war that the I-32 was sunk by an American destroyer on March 24 off Milli Island. On March 31, Admiral Koga, Commander of the Combined Fleet, and his staff left the Palau Islands in two planes, but the planes did not reach their destination, and they were never heard from again.At this point, all action virtually ceases. The number of enemy air strikes on Turuk has increased.Every time there is an air strike, the submarines there must sit on the bottom of the sea so as not to be bombed and sunk.Once, a cabin on the Yi｜169, which was diving under the sea, entered the water.After the air raid, it did not surface.Efforts to salvage the boat were also unsuccessful.Later, we had to take up the cables and gave up all plans to rescue the boat. Under the condition of frequent air raids, the rescue of the sunken boat was impossible. Later, the enemy bombed the place where the submarine was sitting on the bottom of the sea. The water there was very shallow, only about 23 meters.Several depth charges landed directly on the submarine Lu｜44 under my command.When the bomb exploded, the hull shook violently, but no water entered the boat.We surfaced to find the periscope badly damaged.Since the periscope could not be repaired in Turk, we left Turk one night and sailed to Japan.We safely passed the sea where enemy submarines were likely to operate, and after Saipan was far away from us, we sailed at full speed on the surface day and night.One day, while I was on the bridge, the lookouts reported seeing one of our planes.This plane was coming from a transverse direction, and I thought it was my own plane at first, but I soon saw that it was an enemy plane flying to attack us.So I immediately ordered a speed dive.However, at this time the enemy plane had almost flown over our heads.In this case, if the enemy dropped bombs, it would be better for the submarine to be on the surface, so I canceled the speed dive command again.We had waited for the bomb to drop, but the enemy pilot seemed to be hesitating in the last few seconds: Is this the enemy's submarine or his own?Soon, the bombs finally fell. The first two bombs were only five to ten meters away from the stern, but the submarine was not damaged.At this time, we started to dive quickly. As soon as the command room platform was flooded, the enemy fired at us with machine guns.After a while, we dived safely underwater.An hour later, we resurfaced to find dozens of holes in the deck pierced by machine guns.On the second day, we estimated that we might encounter enemy planes, so we strengthened our air observation on the Sun side.At moonset, the enemy plane appeared again.We dived immediately and remained underwater for about an hour without incident. On April 29, we sailed to Wugang, and I handed over the submarine to the new captain.Since it was his first time commanding a submarine, I temporarily went to sea with him for training. On June 5, 1944, Lv｜44 was sunk by an American destroyer off Enniwetok Island.