Under the overwhelming artillery fire, the British and American ground forces that were originally hidden in the fortification groups also suffered a large number of casualties, the Sherman, which weighed more than 30 tons, was directly knocked back to the state of parts after being hit by large-caliber naval gun fire, and the lighter Greyhound armored vehicles were lifted high and fell heavily, surrounded by stumps and broken arms.

There are a total of three American divisions and some British garrisons around Mombasa, including the first American armored division, the British garrison is okay, the American troops are not ready to go to Mombasa at all, no matter the camp, station, fortifications are all temporarily erected, many troops live directly in civilian houses not far from the port. Expectations were made for a convoy from South Africa to bring the troops the much-awaited supplies and materials, but after the First Battle in the Mozambique Channel, that hope came to naught. Not only are the troops unable to build large-scale fortification groups due to insufficient materials and engineering equipment, but even if they can be built, the army fortifications will be able to deal with 150mm caliber artillery at most, and where can they withstand 203mm or even 305mm caliber artillery at every turn, if it were not for the fact that the Japanese fleet did not let go of the bombardment because of the small ammunition reserves, none of these fortification groups would have survived.

Eisenhower's underground fortifications are the strongest and most concealed underground bunkers in the entire Mombasa, after more than ten years of construction, but in the face of such a huge attack, people still feel very unsafe, a roar that shook the sky, a burst of heart-palpitating vibrations came from all directions, all the personnel hiding inside were pale, and their hearts were in their throats, for fear that a shell would fall on their heads in the next second.

"I didn't expect that one day I would hide like a mole in the ground, trembling and waiting for fate to decide." Eisenhower laughed at himself and said to the crowd, "It's a good thing that the cannonball doesn't know the rank, otherwise I don't know how many generals can be killed by a cannonball now." ”

No one could laugh at such a cold joke about style, and everyone couldn't help but roll their eyes, only lamenting in their hearts: "Where is our navy?" Where is our fleet? ”

"Did President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill just watch the Germans and Japanese go on a killing spree in the Indian Ocean and remain indifferent?" Colonel White angrily asked Eisenhower, "If they are not willing to commit naval power, why should the Army come here to die?" Is it just because we are not as noble as the navy? ”

"It's coming, it's just a matter of waiting."

"Wait?" White's anger was even greater, "Is it a week? January? Or a year? I don't want to stay a minute any longer......"

Eisenhower couldn't answer this sentence, because he knew that he might not be able to count on reinforcements in the last three months, let alone January, -- the Atlantic Fleet was weak, and there were only three old battleships at present, and after the sinking of the Raider, there was not even a regular aircraft carrier, and only those escort aircraft carriers with slow speed, few aircraft, and weak defenses were made up; The Pacific Fleet is still far away in Southeast Asia, and the warships that have finally been launched into battle, including the USS Essex, which was commissioned at the end of December last year, the USS Independence, which was commissioned in early January, and the battleship Iowa that will be commissioned in late February, have all been booked to the Pacific Fleet to replace the naval forces withdrawn by the United Kingdom. It was a great pleasure to see the new fleet coming in May to reinforce it.

The president keeps saying that "Europe is the first", but now the reality is that the naval power of the Allies in Europe is not strong, and I don't know what to rely on to guarantee the first place in Europe? Eisenhower felt bitter and inconvenient to show it in front of his subordinates, so he changed the subject and asked, "Is the observation post still operating?" Did the enemy begin a large-scale landing? ”

White was indignant and shook the phone, but after trying for a long time, he could only shake his head helplessly, the line did not work at all, and finally he could not decide to send a few clever soldiers to the ground to observe the situation.

Eisenhower guessed correctly, the German army was indeed preparing for the landing, using five battalions drawn from the African Army, including an armored battalion, an armored grenadier battalion, two infantry battalions, and an artillery battalion, and at the same time with part of the naval forces, according to Keitel's plan, they would be used as the core to form a marine brigade in the future. But they plan to land not in the port of Mombasa, but on the island of Pemba, more than 100 kilometers south of Mombasa, and more than 200 kilometers away on the island of Zanzibar, which are like two daggers, one against Kenya and the other against Tanganyika.

When Tanganyika was a German colony in East Africa, Zanzibar was occupied by the British and used to closely monitor the movements of the German colony, and now taking advantage of the lack of power of the British Empire, Hoffman is ready to send capable forces to occupy it, and the follow-up is envisaged to be built into a naval and air base that has begun to take shape within 3-6 months, and is used as a bridgehead for infiltration into South Africa and Central Africa.

During the series of plans to seize the islands, there was a debate within the Supreme High Command, including the navy, that it was very dangerous to set up so many bases far from the European continent, which was tantamount to being isolated overseas attack points, and that once the British and American navies made joint efforts, these islands would soon be captured, and the end would be a repeat of the mistake of the overseas colonies being fully occupied by the enemy in World War I. But Hoffman pushed for this expansion despite public opinion, and his reasons were simple:

"This is a period of weakness for the British and American navies, who have to deal not only with the Japanese navy in the Pacific, but also with the protection of the Atlantic lines of communication, and the offensive missions in the Indian Ocean, which are far beyond their capabilities, and we must seize this favorable period to expand our forces. These islands and bases, whatever the future, will be, at least for now, our bridgeheads deep into the ocean, and they will have to pay a high price for them to capture, and they will greatly delay their attack on the European continent - would you like them to release their attack on the periphery or our core first? ”

Of course, there is no need to choose such a question; after the US strategic bombing based on Britain has been greatly contained, if it can be won for another year to a year and a half, Speer will be fully sure that the integration of the production capacities of the major industrial countries in Europe will be completed, and at least the integration of Germany and the German-Italian axis will certainly be completed, and this will be able to lay the foundation for sustained combat and final victory.

As for the possibility that Britain and the United States will ignore the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and first point the spearhead of attack at the Indian Ocean, it is not very big in Hoffman's view, because the German Navy will soon launch a huge Atlantic war, and unless Britain and the United States have the ability to completely level the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean will always be the second direction -- without the Indian Ocean route, Britain may lose the supplies of its colonies, but without the supply of the Atlantic route, Britain will lose hope of victory, and it will not even be able to hold out for three months, not to mention anything else, the shortage of oil alone killed Britain. Now that the British and American navies are at a low ebb before the big outbreak, while the control of the Combined Axis Fleet in the Indian Ocean has reached its peak, the prospects for the bases established with the help of this wave of offensive will be very optimistic as long as there are 3-6 months of development time.

According to this plan, the mission and responsibilities of the German Mediterranean Fleet were determined, and the Mediterranean Fleet would be upgraded to the Southern Fleet at an appropriate time, with Alexandria in Egypt as the base, and the ports of Aden, Djibouti, Bandar Abbas, Port Sudan, Socotra, Zanzibar, and Pemba as important bases, and the short-term goal was to ensure maritime security in the Middle East and North Africa, to ensure the smooth flow of shipping routes from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, and to find ways to cut off the Anglo-American shipping routes in the Indian Ocean. The medium- and long-term strategy is firmly targeted at South Africa.

To achieve this goal, Keitel had to agree to continue to coordinate the deployment of air forces by the High Command and to allocate funds for the construction of a new defense system on the island.

In the evening, Eisenhower did not wait for the news of the German landing, but received the news that the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar had been lost one after another, and everyone was in a dead state, and after taking control of the two islands, the Allied forces in the direction of Mombasa could not expect transport ships to dock until they had sufficient air and sea supremacy. And the nearest island of Madagascar is more than 1,300 kilometers away, so will all supplies in the future depend on transport planes?

Eisenhower cheered up and said to this group of men that he did not believe very well: "The Germans and the Japanese are not strong enough, so they dare not land in Mombasa now, and we still have a little time to believe that London and Washington will not abandon us......"

Someone stammered and asked, "Sir, we can still hold on, what can General Patton do?" ”

"Let them march normally, and be careful to stay out of range of naval guns and enemy aircraft...... "Eisenhower sighed, "Sir, save it and say, it is more important than all counteroffensives." ”

Just when the headquarters of Mombasa was immersed in a gloomy fog, there was no joy after the victory in the Musashi Commander Tower, and the atmosphere was also very grim, and most of the officers received a thunderbolt from the sky: Yesterday night, all the nearly 7,000 defenders of Bougainville Island were shattered, and the island was lost!

"Sir......

"Sir!" Everyone turned their eyes to Horikichi's back, who had been staring out the window for a long time, eager to get a different answer from his mouth - to return home immediately to fight Britain and the United States!

But Horikichi, who turned around, put away his sad eyes and said in a firm tone: "According to the original plan, I will go to Italy to supply and maintain, and I hope that everyone will remember the sacrifice of the defenders of the Nanyang Islands, and we will have the opportunity to avenge them." The Musashi fired another volley to see off the warriors! ”

"Boom!" (To be continued.) )