"Sir, the base camp has called back, agreeing to our tactical adjustment, asking us to quickly take Ceylon and establish a reliable forward base. www.biquge.info"Cao Lu didn't say anything, but he was actually most afraid that the base camp would be stuck here, and he was very happy to receive the agreed callback, and at the same time secretly told himself that he was too far away from the chief's vision and strategy, and this chief of staff was unqualified.

The rest of the generals were equally overjoyed, but Horikichi bowed slightly, as if everything was under control, and only asked calmly, "What troops will the army send?" ”

"General Yamashita came to Ceylon as commander of the Indian Dispatch Army, and the first batch of troops consisted of 7 army divisions, including 4 ordinary infantry divisions, 1 chariot division, and 2 flying divisions; The Navy agreed to reinforce four land-based air groups and 3,000 marines from the direction of Tainan and Indochina; The fleet transporting the army all departed from the Philippines, and the Military Command Department instructed us to send a competent fleet to meet the cover; After the army arrives on the island, the Indian Campaign Joint Operations Command will be formed, with the joint participation of the army, navy and the German side, and you will be fully responsible for the time being, and all operational orders on the front line will be decided by the command, and the base camp will not be remotely controlled, and the command structure will be adjusted when the second phase of the campaign against the Indian mainland is launched...... Huh......" Kusaka said a little strange at the end, "The ******** of the navy is not the chief of the military command department, but the deputy commander, Admiral Koga Mine. ”

Horikichi smiled coldly: "Minister Yamamoto sent me a telegram saying that the chief minister, King Hiroko Fushimiya, was sick and hospitalized, and the deputy minister performed his duties on his behalf. ”

Everyone immediately understood from his expression: there must have been an unknown change in the top management of Tokyo, since the base camp is not to say, they are happy to pretend to be confused, and no one is the best to point fingers.

"It's strange, why can the army send so many divisions at once? They have so many ships? Kusaka Ryunosuke asked.

"You don't need that many ships...... Except for the light weapons that they carry with them, the army divisions and regiments basically do not carry any other heavy equipment. Cao Lu Yi smiled and said, "The army has a good abacus, so use the equipment we brought from Germany." ”

"If you are departing from the Philippines, it is recommended that the 8th Fleet of Mikawa Gunichi be escorted to the vicinity of the Andaman Islands, and then this fleet will be responsible for receiving it." Hori looked at the chart, "Take the line of Indochina, the South China Sea, and Singapore, and safety can be guaranteed, the focus is on anti-submarine at night, and more escort aircraft carriers should be dispatched." ”

"If the Philippine Army is used, it will take them at least 15 days to reach Ceylon, and we still have enough time to fight, so you can make the offensive plan more detailed and specific, and set a more generous time. At the same time, this is a joint operation between Japan and Germany, and there may be problems in coordination, so you must think more about the difficulties and not underestimate the enemy. "Don't think that if we attack Madagascar easily, we will attack Ceylon just as easily. The British Empire had run India for many years, and Ceylon had a relatively well-developed defense system, which was not comparable to that of a French colony like Madagascar, which took over halfway. ”

"Now the operational order is issued: the artillery fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo will launch an artillery bombardment on Colombo on the morning of the 24th, covering the landing of the German Army with firepower, paying attention to protecting the port facilities during the shelling, and using them for the subsequent landing of our troops; Vice Admiral Tsukahara 243 commanded the mobile fleet to be responsible for the central cover, and at dawn on the 24th, he first attacked the British Army airfield on Ceylon Island, paralyzing the enemy's counterattack ability and taking into account the defense of the sea; Vice Admiral Keno Kurita commanded the escort fleet to protect the transport fleet that was not involved in the war and continued to stay in the Maldives...... "Kusaka either immediately issued an operational order.

"Hello!" The generals stood together and received the commandment.

"Before the start of the campaign, do a good job of reconnaissance work in the surrounding sea areas to guard against the sudden appearance of the enemy fleet, no matter which direction the enemy fleet suddenly appears, it will bring us unnecessary losses." "The ports of Colombo and Trincomalee must be closely investigated, and if an enemy warship is discovered, it will be immediately sunk and it will not escape." ”

"Follow the instructions of the chief."

Horikichi had a completely different view of the Indian strategy, and he was not as optimistic as the Military Command or the Army, believing that as soon as the army and navy were dispatched, the British would avalanche. He believed that there were three major problems with India's strategy, and based on these variables, he decided on the strategy of taking Ceylon first and then attacking India, and did not hesitate to forcibly promote it with this behavior that was almost "down and down":

The first is the problem of the combat effectiveness of the British and Indian armies, it can be seen from the operation in the direction of Burma that when attacking Rangoon at the beginning, the British had very poor combat effectiveness, but the closer they got to India, the longer the Japanese supply line stretched, the more difficult the operation became, such as rashly attacking Assam from the direction of Burma, the navy was not strong at all, but he was afraid that there would be many problems, so he found another way, not from the direction of Burma, but chose to attack Ceylon first, advancing from the south to the north, to reduce the overall pressure;

The second is the issue of the US fleet, the Pacific Fleet's range of activities has always been on the front line of Australia and New Zealand, if they suddenly come when the front line is at its most intense, even if they do not fight the main battle, they will not be able to stand it if they destroy and cut off the Japanese supply line, so they must first hoard enough military supplies in Ceylon, and it just so happens that the fleet has a huge transport fleet in its hands, if it returns to the mainland first and then fights India, the US fleet may not be able to ambush in some corner;

The third is the issue of the Chinese army's entry into India, the army reports that there are at least 30 Chinese divisions in the Yunnan direction, and there are troops stationed in India in India; although Sino-Japanese relations are now easing, he does not think that China will sit idly by completely, and attacking North India (Kolkata, Chittagong direction) first will attract a multi-sided attack, and first attacking South India, things will be much easier.

Just when the Combined Fleet was gearing up and preparing for a big battle, the two major theaters of the United States, the Southwest Pacific and the Pacific, were holding a joint military meeting, which was chaired by Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Theater.

In the division of the US military system, the Far East is mainly divided into four theaters: first, the Chinese theater; the second is the China-Burma-India Theater (in the direction of Yunnan, China, Burma, and India); the third is the Pacific Theater, which is responsible for the central and northern front of the Pacific; Fourth, the Southwest Pacific Theater is responsible for the central and southern Pacific Fronts (including Australia and New Zealand), and the two Pacific Theaters have overlapping scopes and the army and navy forces that can be mobilized are actually the same system, so it is completely okay to be regarded as a theater of operations. It's just that because neither of the army and navy wants the other general to be the commander-in-chief and relegates himself to a deputy position, he deliberately demarcates two theaters, one headed by Nimitz and the other headed by MacArthur.

This situation also existed in the China-Burma-India Theater, which was also subordinate to the Southeast Asian Theater, with Mountbatten as the commander-in-chief, saying that he was under the guidance of China, Burma and India, but in fact he had his own set of things, and even Stilwell felt a deep headache for the British, let alone the Chinese army.

"Gentlemen, I have two pieces of news for you, one good news and one bad news."

"Let's talk about the good news first, and it's good to boost morale." Halsey spoke first.

"The good news is that Washington has decided to send us an additional Independence-class light aircraft carrier and several auxiliary warships to strengthen the fleet, and the warships are scheduled to leave in three days; The bad news is that the Japanese fleet is back in the Far East, and Washington deduces that we will be in big trouble next......"

"We already know the bad news." Halsey sighed, "The British have reported that the Japanese have occupied the Maldives, and in order to avoid a head-on collision with them, I have asked the fleet responsible for transporting planes and other supplies to India to hide in the port of Trincomalee on the island of Ceylon, and we will come out after this group of locusts has crossed." ”

"Will they attack Australia?" MacArthur asked with his pipe in his mouth, "In that case, we'll have to worry about Washington asking for a few more Army Divisions and some Army Units." ”

"The army and army should also be reinforced later, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff judged that they should not attack Australia and New Zealand, they may attack India." Nimitz paused, "It could also be a counterattack on the islands in the direction of Solomon, such as Kuah Island, Munda Island, Bougainville Island, etc. ”

"Let them come, I have faith to keep them." MacArthur was confident.

But Maj. Gen. Richard Sutherland, chief of staff of the Southwest Pacific Theater, heard a different logic: "Are they crazy? They are mired in the quagmire in the Chinese battlefield, and they have to send troops to attack India, how many troops does Japan have? ”

"You're right. But the Japanese are not crazy, they shrank in the Chinese theater, and according to the intelligence observed, Japan withdrew at least 300,000 square kilometers of land in China, freeing up 10-150,000 troops. "These troops will soon be in the vanguard of the attack on India." ”

Major General George Churchill Kenney, commander of Army Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific Theater, suddenly realized: "No wonder General Arnold insisted that we should replenish the Hump route some time ago, even at the expense of stopping Australia's needs. ”

"How much did you make up?"

"34 C-47s, 16 C-86s converted from B-24, and 9 C-46s, hold the Borg to the brim, some of which must be in loose pieces. We only got 24 new Boeing B-29 bombers ourselves, but the planes were good, better than the B-17s, and the boys of the 5th Air Force loved it. ”

"In the future, you may not have to worry about the B-29, the president has decided to let Boeing focus on supplying the Australian and New Zealand theaters." Nimitz said this with a sad expression.

"What's wrong? Listening to your tone doesn't seem to be very happy? Moreover, shouldn't this guarantee the needs of the 8th Air Force in the first place? ”

"I don't need it." Nimitz shook his head, "The last time I had a meeting in Washington, I learned that the Germans had dispatched jet fighters, and the losses had risen sharply, and in retaliation for the attack on New York, the 8th Air Force organized a thousand-plane bombing of Berlin, with a loss rate of up to 85%, and the president was forced to stop the strategic bombing of Germany. ”

Kenny was surprised and said, "85%? Are you saying the other way around, 15% of the planes do not return? ”

"I didn't say the opposite." Nimitz shook his head, "Only 15% of the planes returned, and many were still wounded." ”

MacArthur was so startled that his pipe was about to fall, and the room was dead silent...... (To be continued.) )