Churchill's face turned pale in an instant: he did not believe that the Axis powers were attacking South Africa, but now even the Mozambique Channel was not safe, which meant that the shipping routes on the western coast of the Indian Ocean were completely unusable.

He pondered for a moment and said, "I will call President Roosevelt and tell him the difficult situation we are facing, and if the United States is not willing to launch a counteroffensive in the Indian Ocean for the time being, we will first transfer back two aircraft carriers from the Far East, and their new aircraft carriers are already in service anyway -- I can no longer risk turning the Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape of Good Hope into a killing ground for the Axis powers." ”

Under the continuous shelling and bombardment of the United States and Australia forces, the topography of Bougainville has long become as potholed as craters on the moon and is almost unrecognizable, and the area controlled by the Japanese army has been greatly reduced, and now it is completely relying on tunnel fortifications and natural caves for final resistance, and the number of troops capable of fighting has also been reduced from more than 6,000 people before the war to less than 1,500 people. A third of them were injured of varying severity.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to inform you of the latest war situation in the Indian Ocean." A man whose left leg was blown off and could only stand on the ground with a saber on the ground read the telegram in a howling tone, "The First Guerrilla Detachment of our Combined Fleet attacked the British and American fleets a few days ago, sinking 2 light aircraft carriers, 2 cruisers, 6 destroyers, countless transport ships, and more than 30,000 people from the two divisions of the British and Mi Army Landing Force were all sunk into the sea by our imperial army to feed the fish......

"Onboard!"

"Combined Fleet onboard!"

"Axis Alliance onboard!"

The soldiers with hideous faces and withered descriptions were like a shot in the arm, and their eyes were full of fanaticism, and they immediately cheered.

"Behind us is Rabaul, Truk, the Absolute Defense Circle, the key hub of the Empire in the South Seas! Now, the commander ordered us to grit our teeth and persevere, fight to the last soldier, and not easily break the jade, and we must be nailed like nails on the island of Bougainville and wait for the victorious return of the Combined Fleet...... For our sacrifices, there will be a combined fleet to avenge us! Nakasaichi bowed his head, "Gentlemen, please!" ”

"Seven lives to serve the country!"

"Kudansakami!"

If the British and American soldiers had fallen into such a situation of running out of ammunition and food, they would have considered surrendering a long time ago, but the Japanese troops who had stubbornly fought to the end still refused to surrender, and not only severely humiliated the American officers and soldiers who went in under the white flag to persuade them to surrender, but even the wounded Japanese soldiers who had been rescued by humanitarian relief did not hesitate to sound their grenades and die together after they woke up, forcing the Allies to give up any rescue attempt. In the end, the US military could only clear the positions and caves one by one, and the progress was very slow.

The United States and Australia allied forces summed up the law and believed that the use of flamethrowers and fire-breathing tanks was the best weapon against this group of "groundhogs," but the danger factor was very high; since landing on Bougainville Island, no less than 30 fire-breathing tanks have been destroyed under the Iron Fist, and more than 100 flamethrowers have fallen under the Japanese snipers. Compared with the general tank that is hit by the iron fist and has a high probability of escaping, the iron fist only needs to hit the key position of the Spitfire tank to cause an earth-shattering explosion, causing the tank to quickly turn into a large fireball.

"What are they doing?" In order to take Bougainville as soon as possible, MacArthur did not hide in Australia and commanded remotely, but directly followed the fleet to act, and if his men had not stopped him from landing on the island, maybe he would have visited the island.

"I guess they've got another piece of news -- the Japanese are now sustaining themselves on that little false victory." Halsey, commander of the U.S. fleet, was also troubled by this hard bone, but he had even more trouble with the follow-up operation: the day before yesterday morning, he received a telegram from China informing him that the reinforcements had been ambushed by the Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean and had been completely annihilated. The country also expressed understanding of their situation, and in the case that the planned reinforcements could not come to the Far East, the War Department gritted its teeth and planned to draw two more divisions from the country.

"Sir, an urgent telegram from the country."

Halsey "chuckled" in his heart, he had been receiving urgent telegrams from China in the past month, and it turned out that there was no good news, he looked up at MacArthur, and sure enough, the other party's expression began to become nervous.

"Three hours ago, the mixed fleet returning south from Kenya was intercepted by the Japanese Navy in Mozambique, and our troops lost 2 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier and most of the other ships, and only 1 enemy aircraft carrier was damaged. The British Navy was forced to make a request to us under the austerity of the situation: or the Pacific Fleet would be transferred to the Indian Ocean to fight; Or withdraw 2 aircraft carriers to ensure the safety of the Atlantic route. The president agreed to the second option, ordering that we must capture Krabaul by February 15 and then withdraw 2 British aircraft carriers and 2 George V-class battleships. ”

"What? To siphon off 4 warships? And who will cover the army? Before Halsey could speak, MacArthur was the first to jump.

"The USS Essex is in service and is scheduled to sail from Pearl Harbor on February 15 to join the Pacific Fleet, and then the battleship Iowa will probably be in service at the same time." Halsey reluctantly said, "The deadline of February 15 is no longer practical, and at the end of January my fleet will return to Australia to rest and replenish -- so many days of continuous high-intensity combat that the fleet will not be able to hold on." ”

"How did the Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean hold up? They've got to come back. ”

"What are they going to do with it?" Halsey said sarcastically, "The Germans took Egypt and opened up the shipping routes, and the Japanese devils had supplies as soon as they landed in Alexandria, and the British left a lot of stuff, and they were all American." ”

"That's all American taxpayer money!" MacArthur sighed helplessly, "The British have more and more hope to become Italians on our side, even more shameless than Italy - they at least took out the navy for the Germans to fight Egypt and the Middle East, at least they succeeded in sending people and supplies ashore, and the British took our things and withheld the supplies for Russia, and in the end they all cheapened the Germans and the Japanese devils." ”

"Things are only going to get worse and worse in the future, the Axis powers cut off the Indian Ocean shipping routes, and the British have to send all their food, use, and clothing from the colonies, and the lack of shipping means that they can only reach out to us - they will become the biggest bloodsuckers in the body of the United States." Halsey has a straight personality, and he complains, "I don't know how much we have to pay to save them, 10 billion?" 20 billion? It is said that the giants of Wall Street control the government, but why don't they count such obvious accounts? ”

"With this price, China can be fully armed."

"You're crazy." Halsey looked at MacArthur in disbelief, "Those stupid pigs in China are going to let us land off the coast of China." ”

"What's so bad, at least it will give us reinforcements." MacArthur fiddled with his pipe, "Get reinforcements first...... As for where to land and when to land...... Well...... This is a big issue, and it needs to be discussed and studied. ”

"......" Halsey instantly understood MacArthur's idea of "reinforcing troops first", and immediately gave a thumbs up, "Clever!" ”

"However, we can't make this suggestion, we have to find another person." MacArthur's eyes rolled, and he instantly thought of a candidate, "I have to send a telegram to Stilwell and ask him to put pressure on the country." ”

At the very moment when MacArthur and Halsey complained that the British had become the captain of the transport brigade, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Horikichi Tsukichi, was accompanied by a large group of senior officers to check and count the seized supplies on Socotra Island. Now Socotra has become a temporary base for the Combined Fleet in the Indian Ocean, which is not only a key point in the shipping lane, but also very safe -- all the surrounding airfields that can threaten it are controlled by the Germans, and the warships that dare to go to sea to compete with the Combined Fleet have become a pile of scrap metal on the bottom of the sea.

Most of the German and Italian naval officers who arrived together at the same time showed little interest in the captured materiel - they had seen so much in Alexandria that their eyes were all on the Musashi, and only the commander of the German navy, Richthofen, led a few officers to inspect the Japanese aircraft carriers and planes in high spirits.

The transport ship that ran aground in the Horn of Africa by the fast column had been towed almost by Keno Kurita, and the remaining nearly 20 ships could not be rescued, and they could not carry the supplies in the hold, so the Japanese could only reluctantly hand them over to the Germans -- let them send sappers to build an artificial dock to prepare for the rescue slowly, and if they could not save it, they could only dismantle the ship in eight pieces and forcibly dismantle it. The extremely shrewd Kusaka Chief of Staff still wanted to get half of the supplies after the rescue, but Horikichi stopped this and only dumped Shunshui favors to the Germans.

Hoffman, who had returned home after attending Montgomery's funeral, received the news, and on the one hand instructed the Ministry of Armaments to send personnel to do this, and on the other hand, in view of the fact that Japan had been "working" extremely hard in the past month and had achieved a lot of results, he instructed the country to send an additional 140 planes, together with the first batch of 60 planes to be delivered first, to make up a full 200 planes to be delivered to the Combined Fleet, in the name of a gift, not on the agreed support list. The staff officers of the Combined Fleet, who had never seen the world, were overjoyed, and repeatedly said that they were still the commander's business experience.

After reading the supplies on the dozens of transport ships in front, the trucks, tanks, artillery, and a large amount of military supplies made these officers stunned and disapproving from the beginning.

The last tightly sealed container aroused everyone's interest, and everyone was guessing what was inside, and when they opened it, they were all stunned, and then laughed together...... (To be continued.) )