"The 8th Air Force has suffered heavy losses, General Li May has been killed, the surviving officers and soldiers have returned home, and the main commanding officers are being investigated to determine whether there are problems such ......as miscommand or intelligence leakage," Nimitz smiled bitterly, "The Germans read out the list of dead officers and soldiers on the radio one by one, and in the past two days, they have been reading out the list of African battles killed in the campaign, the total number is thousands, and the number of prisoners is even more, maybe more than 30,000, and this is not counting the British...... The atmosphere in the country is very depressing, and the mood of the people is low. The www.biquge.info President has been questioned by Congress twice in a row for the loss of the war, and the pressure is enormous. ”

Everyone sighed but was helpless.

Although the Pacific Theater is currently the best-performing theater, not only has it emerged from the shadow of its defeat in the South Pacific Naval War, but has also regained a lot of lost ground, and the self-confidence and combat capability of the officers and men of the unit have also been markedly enhanced, everyone is anxious when they see the overall situation collapsing day by day. Now that the Combined Fleet is returning in a big way, coupled with the defeats in other theaters, it feels even more heavy pressure on the face.

"Washington pinned its hopes of victory in the Pacific Ocean?"

Nimitz nodded: Washington didn't say it explicitly, but Admiral King's attitude said it all.

"So you're asking us to help defend India?" MacArthur raised his eyebrows, seeming a little displeased.

"No, that's the British's own business, and we can't do it. The Admiralty hoped that we would be able to destroy the Japanese convoy and, if possible, fight a skirmish to thwart the enemy's spirit. My thoughts may be more positive, if the Japanese army really attacks India in a big way, whether to use this opportunity to attack other islands or cut off their supply lines, and use actions in other battlefields to contain the Japanese army's movements. ”

When MacArthur heard that he didn't have to go to India to fight the Japanese, MacArthur's face suddenly looked much better, and he asked Halsey: "Can the fleet go and intercept the enemy's convoy?" ”

"It depends on the situation, if it is the main escort of the combined fleet, it will be more difficult with our current strength, but if there is only an ordinary warship escort, we can still get the effect by surprise."

Nimitz agreed: "Washington also means this, hoping that we will not only put enough pressure on Japan, but also not easily find a big war with the Japanese army, if the Japanese army really goes to attack India, it will be a protracted war, and we can wait until the enemy is exhausted before going out." ”

"There are only two ways to get back to mainland Japan from the Indian Ocean: one is through the Strait of Malacca, and the other is not." Halsey stood up and gestured on the map, "I think Japan will definitely choose to take the Strait of Malacca, which is not only close, but also relatively safe, and other roads are under the threat of our army." After crossing the Strait of Malacca and leaving Singapore, they entered the South China Sea surrounded by Malaya, Borneo, the Philippines, and Indochina, and then took the Taiwan Strait along the coastline of Chinese mainland and went north to Japan -- this section of the road was relatively advantageous to the Japanese army, not only could they be covered by land-based aircraft, but the distance was not far. ”

"There are many difficulties in attacking on this road, and there are only three opportunities to carry out the task of breaking diplomatic relations: one is in the Java Sea, which has just exited the Strait of Malacca, the other is the Sulu Sea in the middle of the South China Sea, and the other is the exit of the South China Sea, and neither of them is easy to fight." Halsey scratched his head, "The fleet is easily exposed under the eyes of the enemy. ”

Nimitz also frowned a little, and after carefully looking at the map, he said: "Indeed, this is tantamount to going deep into the enemy's core control area, any link exposed will cause a bad situation, or we send submarines to break the relationship?" ”

Halsey shook his head: "Recently, the enemy has improved its anti-submarine awareness and capability, and the combat effectiveness of submarines has not been high, and it is also very unreliable to rely on aircraft to lay mines in Malacca, and it has hardly been successful......

"So you can't help it?" MacArthur was a little anxious, "I don't want the tanks that the Japanese devils begged from the Germans to be the killers against the army boys." ”

"Can you lie in ambush near Aceh in the Dutch East Indies and hit the enemy once before they enter the Strait of Malacca?" Major General Sutherland made a suggestion.

Nimitz's eyes lit up: it was a train of thought, the sea was so wide that it could slip away as soon as he struck a blow, but he quickly thought of a key question: "Is there time?" Where is the position of the Japanese fleet now? ”

"The British side reported: appeared in the Maldives around the 19th, and there is no follow-up ......"

"If the enemy fleet goes with the convoy, the speed will not be less than 200 nautical miles per day." Halsey shook his head, "If they go back now, they can turn into the Strait of Malacca in a week at most, and it will take 10 days for our fleet to move at maximum speed - it is extremely easy to miss unless we can determine that the enemy is still in the Maldives now, but this seems unlikely." ”

"So what do you think?"

"Attack other directions, like New Britain." Halsey suggested, "At present, New Guinea, Bougainville, Munda and other surrounding islands are all under the control of our army, forming a semi-arc encirclement of New Britain Island, and the remnants of Japanese troops are all confined to New Britain Island, if we can land successfully, it is possible not only to annihilate these Japanese troops, but also to seize Rabaul in the north of the island, which is a very important Japanese naval base." ”

"New Britain and Rabaul are very valuable targets, but ......" MacArthur's voice was much lower, "the number of Japanese troops on the island is a bit large, maybe 8-100,000, and we need at least 5-6 divisions to attack, which requires very high logistics and fire support. ”

His meaning was tactful, but clear: New Britain is a bone that is hard to gnaw.

This is not good, that is not good, everyone in the conference room is anxious, there is no stupid person who can be a general, they know very well what it means to win a battle in the current state: not only can it relieve the political pressure on the president and superiors, pave the way for future promotion and reuse, but also form a bright spot when the global allies are in a downturn, so that Washington can increase its support in the Pacific direction - many people believe that the reason why the Pacific theater has not been able to open the situation for a long time is due to the policy of "Europe first and then Asia", Although it is not tempting to reverse this policy immediately, it can at least greatly increase the importance of the Pacific theater.

"Do you have any good ideas?" Nimitz asked Maj. Gen. Holland Smith, commander of the 5th Amphibious Operations Corps, who had not spoken much, but had been glued to the map—this was the reinforcement that had just been allocated to the Pacific Theater some time ago.

"I want to fight here." Holland-Smith pointed to the Gilbert Islands on the map, "From the point of view, this is the only way from the Marshall Islands to the line of Australia and New Zealand, if we can occupy it, we can not only build a forward defense line between the Solomon Islands and Australia and New Zealand, but also threaten the Marshall Islands and Truk anchorage." ”

The islands of the Gilbert Islands are smaller, except for Tarawa, which is larger and resembles a water bird, consisting of a series of islands and reefs, with a lagoon in the middle, about 33 kilometers and 22 kilometers long on the east and south sides respectively, and a continuous reef on the west, with a deep channel leading to the lagoon in the middle, and the real land part is the largest reef in Tarawa - Bito Island, but the whole island is only 3,700 meters long and about 500 meters wide, with a total area of more than 1 square kilometer. The island was the core of the Japanese defense in the Gilbert Islands, with the only bomber airfield constructed.

"The Japanese army has strengthened its defenses to a certain extent, and although there is no exact information, I think the defenders above are estimated to be between 3,000-5,000."

Attacking Tarawa? Everyone's eyes lit up, and a heated discussion quickly began: obviously, compared to New Britain, Tarawa is not so difficult to fight, and the island's location and strategic value are completely important, once the island is taken, the entire Gilbert Islands will fall into the hands of the US military. The point is that attacking such a small target fits exactly into Washington's ambivalence of "winning without taking risks" and could not be more perfect.

Halsey immediately agreed: "Now that the fleet is in good shape, and with the replenishment of the land forces, I am in favor of fighting a medium-sized campaign in this place and taking full control of the islands." ”

Kenny measured the distance between the Marshall Islands and Tarawa and found that it was nearly 800 kilometers, which means that after the battle started, air support in the direction of Marshall could basically be ruled out, and if the Japanese airfield could be paralyzed at the first time, Tarawa would be completely defenseless against aircraft carriers.

Major General Sutherland believed that the estimate that Tarawa had 3,000-5,000 defenders should be reliable, after all, it was only an island of 1 square kilometer, and no amount of troops could be placed on the Japanese army. His only hope is to move quickly, and now the main forces of the combined fleet are in a hurry to return to their homeland, coming and going for at least 50 days, and the entire campaign must be controlled and resolved within 50 days.

Nimitz and MacArthur studied the map carefully, then looked at each other and nodded knowingly. Several bigwigs were highly unanimous, and the decision to attack Tarawa was immediately adopted.

Nimitz named this battle "Electric Shock" and prepared to mobilize all the main forces of the Pacific Fleet and the main force with the two marine divisions of the 5th Amphibious Army as the core, and quickly eat the island in the posture of a lion fighting a rabbit.

Considering that the campaign was dominated by a fleet and an amphibious landing force, and that the two theaters overlapped, MacArthur elected Nimitz as the supreme commander of the campaign, agreed to mobilize all necessary resources in his theater, and promised to hold the line between New Guinea and Bougainville during the attack to avoid the worries of the attacking forces.

"Since there is a high degree of unanimity, we will immediately form a credible battle plan and report back to Washington." Nimitz said, "I'm going to give a big greeting gift to the returning Horikichi! (To be continued.) )