Just as Cranke racked his brains to join the new troops in the culling of Spruance's TF44 formation, the latter had completed the rearmament and had two British divisions on board for reinforcements to depart for the Indian Ocean tomorrow. The USS Wasp, which had multiple bombs in its body, was lying in the South African dockyard for maintenance, and Spruance had great expectations for it, but after inspection, it was found that the trauma was too great to be recovered by South Africa's technical strength alone, and it had to be towed back to the mainland for repairs, so TF44 could only rely on the Bunker Hill for the time being.www.biquge.info

In order to reverse the passive situation of the shortage of troops, Spruance made innovations in the organization of troops: he made four aircraft carriers and the Bunker Hill form an aircraft carrier combat team, and then arranged all the F6F fighters and SBDs for reconnaissance missions on the four Casablanca-class escort carriers, and the SBDs and TBFs on Bunker Hill were all the same. This is conducive to giving full play to the advantages of integration and making rational use of each aircraft, so that the size of the entire formation has reached 208 aircraft, but of course, the shortcomings are also obvious -- these five aircraft carriers are now an operational unit, and Bunker Hill cannot act alone from the escort aircraft carrier formation.

After the staff officers repeatedly weighed the pros and cons, they finally used such a plan, because this time it was to cover the landing of the army in India, whether from a military or political point of view, TF44 could not only take care of itself, and the US military, which had always been used to being lavish, finally began to learn to save resources to deal with problems.

Coincidentally, this strategy was also implemented after Horiyoshi broke the ownership of the carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese mobile fleet: Tsunoda took Zuiho and the Great Eagle to rob the Soviet fleet, and the Great Eagle was only an escort aircraft carrier and could not take off the heavy-duty attack aircraft, so Tsunoda concentrated all the fighters and reconnaissance planes on the Great Eagle, and could cross and land in an emergency, the only difference was that the proportion of Japanese fighters was always higher than that of the American military -- the US military basically maintained about 40 percent, while the Japanese could reach 45 percent or even more.

As an individual, Spruance had a hard time understanding why he was sending troops to India at this juncture, in his opinion there was no need to save that part of India, and a counteroffensive would not be possible unless the Allies could regain their maritime superiority in the Indian Ocean, but even if they were recaptured, a counteroffensive would not be effective in 1-2 years. Although Japan is the mortal enemy of the United States, and the British fight with the Japanese as fiercely as possible, he feels unreliable.

As a commander, he understands the thoughts of Washington and London, and it is very difficult for the Indian defenders to support them until now, and from any point of view, it is necessary to provide them with a little assistance, which is the way to maintain the morale of the troops and maintain the morale of the troops. If a regional battlefield is in a predicament, it doesn't matter, either forcing the troops to die, forcing the troops to surrender or even turning against the water -- isn't the reason why Southeast Asia collapsed in an instant because of despair from top to bottom? Even so, London had sent the Prince of Wales and the Counter Attack to the Far East to deter - although the end was terrible, and they were sunk the day after the war began.

While thinking about his thoughts, he sighed and asked Roddick, "How are we going to end this war?" ”

"I don't know, I don't even know if I'll be able to win in the end." Roddick was even more pessimistic than him, and he was not afraid that this emotion would affect the troops when the two were alone, "I have a feeling that our stall is too big, and we should shrink the defensive line, concentrate our energy, and concentrate our troops." ”

"You mean, abandon Great Britain?"

"It took too much of our energy and wasted the necessary time." Roddick complained, "Sending these two British divisions to India like this is simply sending them to death, and I don't see anything positive except to delay the fall of India and make more trouble for the Japanese." If you want me to say, it is better to give reinforcements to Australia! ”

"Don't say it, the Australians offered to send their troops home in South Africa, but London didn't let them go!"

"Seriously, I just can't understand what these big guys are doing, and sometimes I think they're so paranoid that they're going crazy." Roddick looked around and said in a low voice, "Think about it, we send more than 2 million tons of supplies to Great Britain every month, and only about 1 million tons can reach the British, and the rest are either captured by the Germans or sunk at the bottom of the Atlantic. If these supplies are not for Qiu Fatzi but for our own use, how many troops can be armed? Even if you don't give it to yourself, assuming that the aid to Brazil is good, the supplies sent from last year to now are enough to arm a million people, right? Can the Germans and Argentines withstand in South America? As for giving it to the Russians, it's even more wasteful......"

"Then we will lose Europe completely."

"Then it's a shame, Europe is not ours in the first place, but South America is different." Roddick thought about it and felt that such a statement was morally untenable and did not conform to the principle of "political correctness", so he pulled out the matter of Cunningham's "British British ship" to defend himself, "You see, the British are not only concerned about the alliance, they are not only concerned about themselves? We have not aided Britain enough, but also the four Dominions, and even if we have not aided the Dominions, we have to help the colonies of the British Empire? If you want me to say, the American taxpayers are really wronged, and their money has been wasted! This war was dragged into the water by Qiu Fatzi's bad intentions, and we have already fulfilled our responsibilities, so we don't feel guilty......"

Spruance was stunned, his deputy's attitude was even more radical than Wallace's.

He muttered: "Is this your personal idea or the general idea of officers and soldiers?" ”

"At least it represents the thoughts of more than half of the officers and soldiers. In fact, everyone is not very interested in fighting the Germans to the death, and everyone is most looking forward to teaching the Japanese devils a lesson. Roddick smiled embarrassedly, "Don't laugh when I tell me......

"What's so ridiculous about that, you say?"

"Although the Germans killed many of us, it was a gentleman's, decent war on the whole, and if it weren't for the president's rush to deliver arms to the British, how could the Germans be so disgusted with us? In the final analysis, the focus of the conflict with Germany was the British question. Roddick saw that Spruance's face was not very good-looking, and hurriedly said, "Sir, this is a personal complaint, and I will resolutely deny it when I go out of this door." Well, the fascist Nazis are not a good thing, all damn it! Fight them to the end - that's the standard answer. ”

Spruance was surprised: Isn't this what the Voice of Europe has been broadcasting all day? Ordinary soldiers just talk about it, how can even an officer like Roddick, who has become a general, have such an attitude? It seems that the defeat has been eaten too much, the morale of the army has begun to waver, and the will to fight has also declined greatly, I don't know if the big shots in Washington know it?

Thinking about it, he couldn't help but feel upset, and finally patted the other party on the shoulder: "We are soldiers, and we must take obedience to orders as our duty, who should be beaten and who should not be beaten, naturally politicians consider." I have reservations about Germany. ”

"I understand, so I don't usually say that." Now it was Roddick's turn to sigh, "The key is to find the right strategic path and tactical means, if I had been more resolute according to my thoughts, Commander Nimitz would have directly taken the main fleet and destroyed the German fleet with us, why are there so many things now?" It's too late for him to come back to the rescue! ”

Spruance could only smile bitterly at this: if he didn't turn around at that time, how could Nimitz have the final say? There is no greater tragedy for the military than this.

Just when the two of them were evaluating Nimitz's original decision, now Nimitz was in a state of anxiety again: he took advantage of the darkness to break through the southern tip of Greenland, and also met the German planes that came to reconnoiter early in the morning, just when he was full of thought that the Germans would be in hot pursuit, the reconnaissance planes dispatched from the mainland sent a telegram, and instead of keeping up, the German main fleet had retracted a large distance, and now the gap between the two had widened to nearly 1,800 kilometers.

"What does this mean? Do the Germans ignore us and go straight to the supplies? ”

"No, those 4 Veneto can last for a few days, do they think we've retreated back to the United States?" Cunningham also expressed great doubts, "Or is the other party so big that he goes directly to Ireland to prepare for a coordinated landing?" ”

But this inference was also incorrect, for other reconnaissance planes reported that no intelligence of the German landing fleet was found within a 1,000-kilometre radius of Ireland, nor did they find the other two aircraft carriers - they disappeared like thin air.

This time it is the turn of the TF46 formation to be embarrassed, they will definitely not dare to return to the United States, what if the German army will kill them in a big way as soon as they return to the United States? Back to the Danish Channel? That's really tossing back and forth, that's stupid! But it is not possible to wait here, this does not guarantee the smooth flow of the Anglo-Canadian route and the safety of Great Britain.

"Regardless of whether the Germans come to chase us or not, we will continue to go to the relevant waters as originally planned." Cunningham stared at the chart for a long time, "The German landing fleet must have made a big circle, they are slow, we are fast, we can catch them by going around." ”

Nimitz was thinking of returning to the United States at this time, but he knew that Cunningham and the British would definitely go on a rampage, and after careful consideration, he said: "Then we will go and see, but if there is no obvious discovery, we will have to go to Northern Ireland to resupply." ”

"This is natural, as long as the fleet enters the air defense circle of Northern Ireland, whether the Germans hit Iceland or Ireland, there is room for maneuver calmly."

Just when the two men were surprised that the German fleet had not expected to pounce on the pursuit, London was even more surprised by the German landing fleet that had disappeared.

Pound slapped the table and scolded angrily: "The air force is all rice buckets, just like that, in this little sea area, after flying more than 30 sorties, you can't find the German fleet, this fucking hell!" Tell them that the Germans must be turned out for me before the sun goes down today! ”

Now, the German landing fleet, which had disappeared from their mouths, was rushing unhurriedly towards the Spanish Canary Islands, where the fleet was scheduled to rest for a day and replenish fuel......