In order to deliver supplies to Patton's army, Eisenhower returned to his role as a staff officer he was most familiar with in his early years, mobilizing bombers and transport planes that could be used in all African theaters, and even the TBM carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier "Fury" docked in Mombasa were used to take responsibility for transporting them, even so, it was still very difficult to meet the supply of a force more than 1,600 kilometers away by airdrop, and its challenge was almost as difficult as the Hump route in the Far East. Fortunately, Somalia does not have the harsh terrain and weather like the Himalayas, which allows the Mombasa transport cluster to maintain a high dispatch rate. As Patton's team farther south, the distance to resupply became shorter, and more planes could be dropped.

Although the details could not be disclosed due to wartime secrecy, the image of Patton on crutches and with high morale leading his men on foot on Somali soil was forever fixed in the photographs of the accompanying reporters. Whether it was Eisenhower in Mombasa or Roosevelt and Marshall in Washington, everyone cast their eyes on the distant East Africa, a land they were not familiar with, and the first thing Roosevelt would pay attention to every day was that Patton's troops had gone there, and he marked the places and routes of Patton's march little by little, like a schoolboy who had just learned geography, on a map, and calculated for himself how long it would be before he reached Mombasa.

"Sir, there's a telegram from the front, and the first transport vehicles have been in contact with General Patton."

"Great!" Eisenhower stood up ecstatically, "How's it going?" What is the mental outlook of the troops? ”

"The overall condition is okay, and the mental outlook is good, but their bodies are very weak, and the accompanying doctor checked the physical condition of some officers and soldiers, and their weight has lost an average of 10-15 pounds...... Along the way, the number of attrition due to various reasons is about 300. ”

"Very good, very good, pull them back to rest as soon as possible......" Just as he was glad that the rescue work was basically over, a terrible air raid siren suddenly sounded, and he frowned and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

The staff officers looked at each other, and before they could react, the phone had already called, and a panicked voice reported: "Sir, our radar station has found an unknown group of aircraft, and we are probably less than 100 kilometers away......

"What?" Eisenhower was taken aback, "Is it Japanese?" How large? ”

"At present, it is impossible to judge, the number of aircraft in the fleet is more than 100, and the fighter unit has been notified to take off to meet the enemy......"

"Okay, I see, you guys will carry out air defense according to the plan." He casually put down the phone and said to the circle of officers around him, "Come, let's continue ......"

"Sir, are you going to take shelter in an air-raid bunker first?"

"It shouldn't be necessary, right?"

"You should go, it's for your safety...... Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel White beckoned the guards to take Eisenhower away, because he knew the situation in Mombasa very well, although there were more than 50 fighters on the surface for defensive duty, but most of them were relatively backward Hurricanes and Tomahawks, and the more advanced Spitfire only had 9, and although the aircraft carrier Fury still carried a squadron of carrier-based fighters, the total number was only 14 F4Fs.

The US military's estimate was quite accurate, and the air raid was the German and Italian naval planes that took off from the Japanese aircraft carriers, and for this operation, the three Axis countries formed a joint fleet, with Admiral Horiyoshi of the Japanese Combined Fleet as the commander-in-chief, and the main tactical core of the Axis Combined Fleet was the four aircraft carriers of the mobile fleet: Xianghe, Hayabusa, Zuiho, and Ryufeng. After Tsukahara 243 led the 1st Guerrilla Detachment to complete the pursuit in the Mozambique Strait, it returned to Socotra to carry out a supply and formation reorganization -- most of the carrier-based aircraft formations of Xianghe and Zuihe stayed on the island to receive new planes and conduct targeted drills, while the wounded Zuihe rushed to Italy through the Suez Canal for repairs under the protection of a group of heavy cruisers and destroyers.

During the reorganization of the fleet, the flight force carried by the aircraft carrier was also temporarily changed: The pilots of the Japanese Navy, who had completed the training and running-in tasks in the early stage, flew the new planes and were mainly stationed in the Hayabusa, Zuiho, and Ryuho, while the pilots of the German Navy, who were carefully selected in the preliminary training and were the first to adapt to the ship, were all assigned to the Shozuru, which had a wider deck and easier take-off and landing. There were 9 more fighters, and the number of aircraft carried by Xianghe rose from 72 to 81.

This decision has aroused great concern within the Japanese Navy, because the decks of Japanese aircraft carriers have always been clean, while the US aircraft carriers have carried out a large number of tethering -- it is not that the Japanese Navy does not know the advantages of carrying more aircraft, but in reality there are indeed difficulties that are difficult to overcome -- for example, Japan does not have catapults, so it must leave more and longer flight decks, and for example, Japanese planes are relatively delicate and expensive, and tethering in the open air can easily cause aircraft malfunctions. But after the new carrier-based aircraft were put into service, these problems did not exist - the Bf-219 was more powerful than the Zero combat horsepower and could take off with a shorter deck runway; German aircraft and engine manufacturing is very reliable, not only does it not have the oil leakage that is common in Japanese aircraft, but the failure rate after even sun and rain is very small, and there is no pressure on safety tethering.

Last but not least, Japan will take the opportunity of the Mizuru maintenance to install catapults on it, and the three German modified aircraft have far surpassed the Japanese level in structural strength and can fully withstand the impact of catapult take-off -- which means that it is possible to mooring more aircraft.

"Sir, I have calculated, if you do not consider the catapult factor, only using a large-scale tethering strategy, the 5 aircraft carriers of the mobile fleet can carry at least 27 more zero combat modifications (Bf-219 is called zero combat reform by Japan, and there are also Comet changes and Tianshan changes on a par with them), if you consider the catapult factor, you can carry 47-51 more aircraft in general, which is equivalent to a whole more medium-sized aircraft carrier." Ryunosuke Kusaka said excitedly, "This is a calculation made on the premise of ensuring absolute safety, and the number of aircraft carried is reasonable, and if only tethered fighters are considered, the number of tethered aircraft can exceed 60." ”

But Tsukahara's subsequent words poured cold water on him...... (To be continued.) )