"The Japanese firepower was very fierce, and hundreds of warships opened fire on us......"

The confidential staff officer read the telegram expressionlessly, and there was silence on the bridge of the Essex, and everyone didn't know what to say: the U.S. military had wasted all its strength in fighting Tarawa, and even if there were not hundreds of warships, dozens of warships opened fire, and the Japanese could hold it for so many days; On the other hand, now that it is the turn of the Japanese to fight Tuvalu, even if there are more warships and the defenders are weaker, they will not surrender in the morning - many people think that they can last at least a day. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Nimitz sighed, "It's up to us next." ”

Giffen was a little nervous: "At this rate, I'm afraid that Tarawa won't be able to hold on for that long, we are just a marine regiment deployed on it, and the battle has just been fought there, at most the airport has been repaired, and all the fortifications used by the Japanese army will have to be renovated - no one would have thought that the Japanese army would fight back so quickly!" ”

Halsey hurriedly said: "Send a telegram to them immediately, rush to repair the fortifications, and hold on for more than 3 days no matter what!" ”

In the afternoon, Horikiyoshi, Tsukahara, and other high-ranking officers boarded Tuvalu and saw the potholed US airfield and the dozen or so B-17\B-24 heavy bombers left on the scene -- they were unable to take off because of the destruction of the runway, and then evaded the shells under the careful protection of the officers and men at the airport.

Horikichi suddenly laughed: "Tsukahara-kun, I've figured out how to fight Tarawa." ”

Tsukahara 243 smiled slightly: "The chief's laughter inspired me, and I happened to think of it just now." ”

"Why don't we write it down and guess it together?"

A bunch of staff officers watched with great interest as the two officers played dumb riddles. The two of them each showed a written note, Horiyoshi wrote "turn the enemy into me", and Tsukahara 243 wrote "pretending to bomb".

"It seems that you and I are on the same page, is it feasible?"

"Where, the chief is the first to win people, the artistic conception is higher, and his subordinates admire it."

Everyone laughed, only the captured American officers and soldiers were inexplicable and a little frightened - they knew that the Japanese army did not treat the prisoners very well, and if it were not for the fierce fire of the enemy's naval guns that made people almost collapse, they would not want to surrender.

"Take the prisoners down, and let the military doctor take a good look at the wounded......" Horiyochi was in a good mood and asked the major who took the lead in English, "What do you call it?" ”

"Mike Grandi."

"There are also a group of pilots from Australia, New Zealand and your country's army aviation on our warship, all of whom were salvaged after being shot down in the Australia-New Zealand campaign, and you are responsible for counting their names and positions, and sending a telegram to your supreme commander tomorrow, telling him that these people are still alive, and let their families not worry...... You can return to your home country after the war, and we will treat you in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. ”

"It's ...... It's true? Do you speak? ”

"Bastard! This is the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Horikiyoshi, and his words are true. ”

"Yes, yes, thank you very much! Thank you so much! ”

"Your commander is General Nimitz?"

"That's the Supreme Commander of the Navy, we're the Army, and the Supreme Commander of the Pacific is Admiral Douglas MacArthur."

Coldly, Kondo Nobutake interjected: "It's the one who escaped by speedboat from the Philippines?" ”

The crowd laughed, and Major Mike's face was red to the base of his neck, but he did not dare to plead - it was the truth, after all.

"Go down, as long as you cooperate, our army will treat you with courtesy."

After the American soldiers were escorted away, Cao Lu Yi immediately asked, "Sir, the plane is here, but what about the pilot?" The number of carrier-based pilots is not enough, and we can't fly US planes......"

"Didn't the guerrilla fleet bring a group of land-based pilots with it? Let them come by seaplane immediately...... As for airplanes. Horikichi turned his head to Tsukahara and said, "Let Murata Shigeharu and Ekusa Takashi be in charge of emergency training, and they will be dispatched the day after tomorrow." ”

Kusaka Ryunosuke suddenly recalled: When he was in India, Shigeharu Murata and Takashi Ekusa, who were bored, took people to "play" with captured US heavy bombers and transport planes, and almost caused their own air defense fighters to fire because the identification mark was not altered in place. Could it be that the two commanders thought of using today's trick at that time, this is terrible - is this still human?

When he threw this question to Tsukahara two, four, three, the latter laughed: "How can you say so strongly, the commander originally only wanted to use Tuvalu's airport to expand his strength, and he didn't expect that there would be US military planes to be retained in advance, after all, there are not enough carrier-based aircraft pilots, and it is more convenient to have American planes." ”

In the afternoon of the same day, the Japanese engineers began the process of rapid repair of the airport with the help of American machinery and equipment for emergency repair, and the middle- and low-ranking officers and men below were very happy -- not only did they save effort but also did it quickly; for the first time, they knew that the airport could be repaired in this way, and for the first time they understood why the Americans always repaired the airfield so quickly, and if they also had these equipment, they would be able to keep it faster than the Americans.

However, the generals who were concerned about the progress of the repair had solemn faces: the faster the repair, the stronger the engineering capability of the US military, and the thought of constantly competing with such a terrible opponent made everyone's hearts feel sad.

On the afternoon of September 2, on the Essex aircraft carrier, which was heading for the course, the telecommunications officer handed Nimitz a telegram, and the latter was discussing the tactical plan with Halsey and others, so he said without looking up: "Read it......

"Sir, it's a clear code telegram, the content is not very good, you better read it yourself." Embarrassment, the communications staff officer forced the telegram to Nimitz.

"Plain code telegram? Not so good content? Nimitz was so baffled that he had to free his hands to see:

"Dear Admiral Nimitz,

I am Major Mike Grandi, the supreme commander of the Tuvalu garrison, and I am now sending you a telegram from the battleship Musashi, the general flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, that our army surrendered two days ago due to being outnumbered and defeated in battle, and there are still 274 survivors (the list is attached), and when the Combined Fleet attacked Australia and New Zealand, we picked up many pilots who fell into the water (including Australia and New Zealand), and there were 179 survivors (the list is attached), please forward it to the rear to comfort your relatives. The Supreme Commander of the Japanese Army, General Horiyoshi, said that the prisoners would be treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, and we are being treated with dignity so far......

Admiral Horikichi admires you very much, and sincerely invites you to lead a fleet to Tuvalu to visit Tuvalu and enjoy tea and discussion, and he will be hospitable! ”

"Confused! How could there be such a confused army officer! Nimitz was so angry that he threw the telegram on the table.

Halsey and Giffen looked at each other, not understanding why Nimitz was so angry, although they both knew that "hospitality" was certainly not a good word, but after all, the tone of the telegram was written politely, and it also mentioned that the Japanese army gave the prisoners decent treatment and reported the personnel situation, which is rare for the American army to pay attention to the lives of officers and soldiers.

Nimitz hit the nail on the head and pointed out Horikichi's intentions: "He is shaking the hearts of our army, the Japanese army is about to fight Tarawa, and now get a surrendered battalion commander to send a telegram, and also invent a code telegram to inform the survivor list and the prisoner policy, so that others can see what they think?" Tell them that if they surrender, they will be treated well? Isn't this just the right time to hit the enemy's propaganda war? Confused, really confused! ”

"Also, he 'invited' me to Tuvalu ......" Nimitz bit the word "invite" very hard, "if we go stupidly, we will run into the enemy there, and if we dare not go, we will be laughed at by the enemy as cowardly, because we did not go to the rescue of Australia and New Zealand, and the morale of the army has fluctuated a little, and even Tuvalu does not care, what will the defenders on the other islands think?" Will it be thought that they were abandoned by the Navy? ”

"The Japanese devils are so insidious!"

"Then how do you scold back?"

The scolding back fell behind...... Just pretend to ignore it! ”

Nimitz never imagined that while he was getting suspicious because of the Japanese telegram, Tarawa was experiencing an atypical bombardment.

The 16 B-17\B-24 bombers flew towards Tarawa in a neat line, because the planes they saw were all the iconic four-engine heavy bombers of the US military.

It was only when they lowered their altitude and tried to land that they caught the attention of the conning tower, because the English voice in the intercom sounded strange, which aroused suspicion; In addition, although the runway in Tarawa is long enough to accommodate the B-24, the formation is not a column when it comes down, it is completely dense; What's more, the commander was suddenly shocked to find that he had not received a telegram from an airplane to support.

"Not good, this is an enemy aircraft...... Shoot quickly. The commander shouted hoarsely.

But it was too late, the low-flying heavy bombers poured bombs out at an altitude of 1,500 meters, and the airport, runway, hangar, and other US planes were all shrouded in deafening bombing sounds.

The fighters on duty in the air knew that the situation was not good, and they rushed down to intercept and kill them, but instead they were killed by the dense self-defense fire of the group, and in the end, only one plane posed by the Japanese army was shot down, and the rest of the planes all patted their butts and flew away.

When the news reached the fleet, Halsey was so angry that he was angry -- this was the second time that the army had stabbed the fleet!

The officers and men of the US Army Aviation who were bombed were also very aggrieved: You have repeatedly reminded us that the Japanese army may come to attack in the early hours of the morning or at dawn, and our vigilance force at that time was the strongest. It's not enough to come in the daytime, but also to use our 4-engine heavy bombers, which is really full of grievances and has nowhere to tell!

Nimitz squeezed a phrase out of his teeth: "The Tarawa airfield must be repaired as soon as possible, and the decoy fleet must speed up its advance and assume the task ......of air defense when it is ready" (to be continued). )