"Report, the main force of the enemy fleet has been found to be attacking Tuvalu, our airfield has been damaged, and most of the aircraft have been destroyed......"

In the early morning of August 31, a message broke the silence on the aircraft carrier Essex. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"When? Aren't you guarded? Halsey was furious, "I've reminded them to be vigilant ...... again and again."

However, it was soon impossible to go on, as the telegram indicated that the Japanese attacked at dawn, and the defenders had no time to react, and were directly bombed and shelled - the whole attack pattern was the same as that of the Japanese in Panama.

"Let me see, the enemy ship formation is spread out around the island, with 5 battleships, 8-9 suspected heavy cruisers, there seem to be 2 regular aircraft carriers in the distance, 3-4 light aircraft carriers, and the rest of the ships are more than 200 in total, and the enemy ships seem to have a landing attempt."

Halsey gasped: "It's Horikichi's main force!" He's going to fight Tuvalu! ”

Nimitz's brow furrowed tightly: "How much defense do we have on it?" ”

"There is about 1 battalion in the army, and there were about 100 planes, but now it is ......," Halsey worried.

"Prepare for the loss...... Nimitz showed a helpless look, "The gap between the strength of the enemy and us is too big, and now that there is no air power, it is estimated that it will be lost soon." However, judging by the fact that the enemy is now so aggressively exposed, it seems that Horikichi does not know that we exist. ”

"This is a good opportunity, but it's still a little far away, and I'm afraid the army won't be able to hold it for long." Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen, Chief of Staff of the Fleet, looked at the charts and found that the center of the main force of the Pacific Fleet was roughly 1,000 nautical miles south of Midway, about 2,500 kilometers away from the Japanese in a straight line.

"Intercept him?"

Nimitz didn't say anything, but asked, "How many days do you think the army can hold out?" Can you be as tough as the Japanese army in Tarawa? ”

Halsey was immediately speechless.

Giffen said incredulously, "At least for a day, right?" The Japanese army prepares for one day, takes the island for one day, retreats for another, and if we hurry up and march quickly, in 3-4 days it will be enough for carrier-based aircraft to fly to the offensive range......"

Nimitz shook his head: "Although the enemy fleet is huge, it is very difficult to catch them, I want to settle the escort aircraft carrier group to Tarawa, and the main force of the fleet will maneuver in the sea between Tarawa and Tuvalu, capture the fighters, and if possible, lure the enemy formation to Tarawa." ”

"You insist that the enemy will go to Tarawa?" Major General Giffen was a little incredulous, "And even Tarawa is not in defense now, and it is impossible to resist the Japanese attack." ”

"I don't have proof, but I have a gut feeling that Horikichi will definitely go to Tarawa." Nimitz smiled imperceptibly, "If he doesn't go, he won't have to fight Tuvalu at all - he's clearing the way for an attack on Tarawa, as for the anti-landing ......"

Halsey sighed and continued, "Once the enemy starts to land, we have already lost......"

Rear Admiral Giffen is a smart man, otherwise he would not be the chief of staff, and he understood it with a little push: Admiral Nimitz meant to use Tarawa to lure the Japanese army to attack, and then the escort aircraft carrier formation arranged in the surrounding waters in advance could take the opportunity to launch an attack on the enemy aircraft carrier formation, and most of the attacks would fail, but this was not a real killer move, and his fatal blow was the fleet aircraft carrier formation that was ambushed and swam to attack.

In Nimitz's tactical arrangement, Tarawa is the bait on the surface, and the escort aircraft carrier formation is the bait in the secret, and once the Japanese swallow it, the third wave of hidden lore will be dispatched.

Although Halsey was the commander of the fleet, Nimitz's opinion was very respectful, and after thinking about it for a long time, he thought that this tactic was more secure, and the only doubt was: "What if the Japanese eat the bait and don't fight Tarawa?" ”

"Then there is no way, most of these escort aircraft carriers can only be sacrificed in vain......" Nimitz's voice became low, "There is no such thing as a sure thing in a war, otherwise the enemy will not fight us." ”

Not only did Rear Admiral Giffin have this question, but Minoru Genda, who was on board the Shozuru, was also puzzled, and he asked the chief of staff, Ryunosuke Kusaka: "Sir, why do you want to do it to Tuvalu when you are ready to fight Tarawa?" Even if there is an airfield on it, it will not pose much of a threat to our attack, and if it is really destroyed, it is enough to attack it with aircraft, so why land? What a delay! Isn't this a reminder that the U.S. military is here? Dramatically increases our odds of exposure! ”

"Didn't figure it out?"

Minoru Genda honestly admitted: "I originally thought that the commander would land in New Zealand to fight, but New Zealand did not land and landed in Tuvalu instead, which is really ......."

Kusaka Ryunosuke smiled: "Don't say you didn't understand it, I don't understand it very well, let's listen to what the commander has to say." ”

Tsukahara 243 shook his head: "I don't see it that way, first of all, you have seen the overview of Tuvalu Airport, not a small airport as we imagined, this is actually an aviation base of the US military between Australia and New Zealand and the Central Pacific, whether it is the scale or the aircraft, it has exceeded expectations, I originally thought that there was no need to make a big move, but after reading it, I deeply admired the commander's decision, it should be fought, and it should be landed; Secondly, there is a salient feature I don't know if you have noticed, judging from the experience of the Panama campaign, the US heavy bomber can be effectively changed into a long-range reconnaissance aircraft, and the enemy's engineering repair force and speed are really amazing, if we just lightly 'attack' Tuvalu, the US military can completely repair it in less than 3 days, what will be the situation? ”

The two people on the other side nodded their heads repeatedly: if Tawala is not hit, it does not matter whether the Tuvalu airport is repaired or not, but if the fleet is going to land in Tawara, then the Tuvalu airport is a sharp knife on the back of the Combined Fleet - whether it is an attack or a reconnaissance, it will make it difficult for the Combined Fleet to sleep.

"Last but not least, the commander wants to be able to lure the enemy out to fight, if you don't pick an obvious target to attack, how can you let the enemy know that we are coming?"

"What?" Minoru Genda's eyes widened, and he suddenly figured out something, and exclaimed: "The headquarters of the combined fleet is just a bait for the commander to expose himself to the surface and attract the enemy's attention, and the guerrilla fleet is the main force?" ”

Tsukahara smiled and nodded: "The way of using troops lies in not being informal, between fiction and reality, who stipulates that the bait must be used by the guerrilla fleet?" The main force can't be used as bait? You've all seen the tactics of using the Yamato as a decoy! It's nothing more than the chief himself as bait last time, and this time it's my turn. ”

These words made Ryunosuke Kusaka and Minoru Genda suddenly arrogant.

The guerrilla fleet in Minoru Genda's mouth was the Eighth Fleet under Mikawa and the Third Air Force under Tsunoda, which was very weak, with a core strength of only 4 heavy cruisers and 2 light aircraft carriers, plus a bunch of destroyers. Horikiyoshi's battle orders were then carried out, and the orders of the Military Command were selectively ignored on the grounds of radio silence.

The strength of the guerrilla fleet is not strong, but the strength of the land is not weak, in addition to a brigade of marines that has been accompanied by the battle, it also went to Rabaul to replenish the land strength of a wing, and also managed to transfer a group of pilots from Ugaki -- this is also the key reason why Horiyoshi was too lazy to negotiate with the Military Command Department, whether it is the mobilization of land troops from Rabaul or the mobilization of land-based aviation from Ugaki, in fact, it is not something that the commander of the combined fleet can decide, and according to the RB system, it must be reported to the Military Command Department for coordination by the commander-in-chief.

However, this involved communication between the town guards, the Marine Corps, the Naval Air Force, the Combined Fleet, and Tokyo, and the telegraph was sent to the dead - a greatly increased communication would increase the chance of exposure, so Horiyoshi simply crossed the top to negotiate.

It's strange to say, whether it is the commander of Rabaul's town guard or Ugaki, they are all respectful to Hori's orders, and they all comply, especially Ugaki's cooperation makes Kusaka very strange, because the other party was originally a high-minded golden mask, and it was because Hori Yoshichi was ousted from the position of chief of staff of the combined fleet and changed positions with himself, he planned to refuse in Ugaki and finally use his influence in the air team to promote, but he didn't expect things to go more smoothly than he thought.

"Sir, the guerrilla fleet has three days to reach its designated position." Grass Deer reported, "Everything went well on the road. ”

Horikichi smiled: "Good! Landing in Tuvalu and avenge the soldiers of Tawara! I'm going to visit the island before the sun goes down! ”

The Marine Corps commander next to him, Yoshiyoshi Tanaka, laughed: "Sir, you don't need to get dark, you can go to the island after lunch." ”

Horikichi shook his head: "Don't underestimate the enemy, the U.S. military is just folded on top of the underestimating enemy, otherwise so many people will die on Tarawa?" Don't let Tuvalu become our tarawa, the U.S. military has tens of thousands of troops to squander, and I only have one multi-wing of you! ”

"Taught!"

But Horikichi still thinks highly of Tuvalu's defense capabilities, and frankly, the island's defense level is not even two of Tarawa's, and the U.S. Army doesn't seem to be very good at fighting without aircraft and artillery.

The landing began at 9:20 a.m., because the capital ships had to conserve ammunition, and at the same time, considering that the airfields and defense facilities were still useful, they could not be fought too badly, because the combined fleet opened fire with light cruisers and destroyers in close proximity, and the spectacular sight of nearly 100 light warships firing was numb to watch. Japanese light warships have always been known for their firepower, and more than 600 127mm naval guns opened fire fiercely, allowing the US troops on the island to enjoy a metal storm -- completely different from the heavy bombardment of Kuah Island, this time the style was suffocation.

After 30 minutes, the Japanese landing craft sorted, and the No. 4 amphibious tank began to be launched.

It didn't take long for the front to cheer, the U.S. troops raised the white flag and surrendered, and the grass deer turned his head to look at the time - 11 o'clock was still missing 5 points.

He smiled and asked Horikichi, "Sir, will you dine first or land on the island first?" ”

"So fast?" Horikichi also laughed, "Just follow Tanaka-kun's suggestion and go to the island after lunch." (To be continued.) )