If the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the last straw that crushed Japan in World War II, then going south to the Pacific Ocean was the last decision Made by Japan in its aggressive acts in recent decades. And this decision, like its full-scale invasion of China in 1937, was so stupid that it did not measure up.
Since the end of the Sino-Japanese battles in 1938, the Japanese army's delusional "destruction of China within three months" has been broken and dragged into a protracted war. For more than three years, Japan has deeply felt that its national strength is insufficient, and the existing resources, not to mention the ambitions to support expansion, are full of complaints in its own country. In this way, the arrogant Japanese army set its sights on the resource-rich and vast Pacific Ocean.
In order to grasp the rich resources and important shipping routes of Southeast Asia, the Japanese army tried in vain to drive the American forces out of the Pacific Ocean completely. Therefore, the Japanese army took advantage of its own arrogance to sneak attack Pearl Harbor in 1941, in a vain attempt to copy the number of roads in North China and wipe out the US Pacific Fleet in one fell swoop.
Due to the surprise attack on the US troops, the Japanese army's operations achieved great results: sinking and severely damaging 8 US battleships, 3 cruisers, and 3 destroyers, destroying 188 fighters, and causing more than 3,000 casualties to officers and men. It just so happened that the aircraft carrier was not in port at that time, and the US military was able to preserve a small amount of ready-made resistance.
In 1942, at the battle of Midway, a turning point in the Pacific Theater, the U.S. Army won a complete victory and launched a counterattack. In August of the same year, the U.S. military launched the Battle of Guadalcanal and officially launched a counterattack, and it was in this battle that another Japanese army was afraid and admired by future generations - John Basilon.
Basilone joined the army as early as 1934 and served in Manila, Philippines, then joined the Marine Corps in 1940 and accompanied the army to Guadalcanal in 1942, as a machine gunner of Company C, 1st Battalion, Seventh Regiment, 1st Marine Division, and participated in one of the key battles of the Pacific War, the Battle of Guadalcanal.
On this small island in the South Pacific, Basilone will embark on his own heroic path. On 24 October, Basilone's position at Henderson Airfield was attacked by the Japanese 2nd Division. The Japanese had the numerical superiority and launched a direct frontal offensive, at which time Basilone was in a position with only two machine gun squads totaling fifteen men.
Faced with an enemy force a hundred times larger than his own, Basilone was not afraid, and in the case of the delay in the arrival of reinforcements, he led his comrades to fight against the fierce charge of the Japanese army for two days and two nights, leaving only himself and two other wounded comrades. He then repaired another machine gun and operated it himself, holding the line until reinforcements arrived, but the ammunition ran out as the battle progressed.
Late at night on the 25th, the Japanese cut off the supply line for 3 people from the rear, and the reinforcements had not yet arrived at the battlefield. So Basilone decided to go out and fight all the way through the enemy-infested area to help the machine gunners replenish the much-needed ammunition. As the last batch of bullets ran out, Basilone could only use a pistol to drive out the approaching Japanese troops. By the end of this fierce battle, the Japanese troops who were fighting against them were almost all defeated. Therefore, in the hearts of the Japanese army, Basilone became the "devil" in their hearts.
According to post-war statistics, Basilone alone killed about 1500 to 2100 Japanese soldiers, and he became famous in the first world war, and received the highest military medal that Congress awarded to American soldiers, the Medal of Honor.
Basilone, who had originally won this honor, was able to withdraw from the battlefield and survive the war years, but he still insisted on going to the line of fire again. The U.S. government was going to let him retire from the army and enjoy his old age at home, but he insisted on going to war again, and he was very excited in his last application. In 1945, after his wife's honeymoon, Basilone was sent to Iwo Jima to fight in the last hard battle of the U.S. Military in the Pacific Theater.
Because the Japanese army already had plans to fight a decisive battle on the mainland, they built a large number of fortifications on Iwo Jima, and this battle became the most tragic battle in the entire World War II, with nearly 25,000 casualties, and it was the only battle in world war II in which the number of casualties exceeded that of the enemy. Among the fallen soldiers was Basilón.
On 19 February 1945, he landed on Iwo Jima as a machine gun squad leader. After landing, Basilone saw that the Marines were suppressed on the beachhead and could not move, so he crossed the Japanese position alone, single-handedly detonated the Japanese fortifications with grenades and bombs, and eliminated the soldiers in the fort.
He then hit the central airfield on Iwo Jima and braved heavy artillery fire to guide an American tank trapped in a Japanese minefield out of the trap. Unfortunately, just as Basilone was at the edge of the airfield, he was suddenly hit by fragments of Japanese mortars...
Heroes mostly end their lives with epic feats, and perhaps this is the fate of heroes. Basilone's life as a hero also ended with the posture of dying on the battlefield. After that cannon sound, Basilone's soul returned to the Hall of Heroes, and the military posthumously awarded him the Naval Cross.
John Baslon, a heroic soldier, died at Arlington National Cemetery, while his heroic deeds were filmed as part of the TELEVISION series Pacific War. Like the dazzling stars in the night, Basilone deserves to be admired and praised along with the heroes of history.
As at the end of Company of Brothers, Colonel Winters recalled, "No, boy, I'm not a hero. But I fought alongside the heroes. "It is because of these lost heroes that we can enjoy such a peaceful and peaceful life today.