When Vice Admiral Spruance I and Rear Admiral Julian Smith, commander of the 2nd Marine Division, met with each other, the first thing they did was not to discuss important matters such as amphibious landing training for troops, but to take a look at the LVT-1 amphibious personnel carrier used in the landing operation, and the most famous amphibious landing ship (LST), the large personnel landing craft LCP, the vehicle personnel landing craft LCVP, and the mechanized landing craft LCM. Tank landing craft LCT-MK5 large infantry landing craft LCI, large support landing craft LCS (L), medium landing ship (LSM), LCPR personnel landing craft, LCT tank landing craft, as well as the new Ford GPA amphibious transporter......

The new amphibious transporter was put into service before September and October 1942, because it was one of the weapons and equipment that the US military was preparing to open a second theater of war in Europe.

The Ford GPA amphibious jeep is made of an extended Ford GP?4×4 jeep chassis with a watertight body, with a length of 4.62 meters and a width of 1.63 meters, using a 4-cylinder 8-valve gasoline engine with a displacement of 2.2 liters, which can output 60 horsepower at 3600 rpm. The maximum speed on the water is 8 km / h; In addition, the output shaft is capable of driving the drain pump under the vehicle. By using the steering wheel to deflect the front wheels and the rudder at the rear of the car, the GPA can easily complete the water steering.

However, the point of this GPA amphibious jeep is that the body of the car is relatively clumsy, and the speed is low when driving on land, and when used in open water, the car is obviously small, the reserve buoyancy is insufficient, and it is very easy to sink in the water under large wind and wave conditions, and its occupants need to wear life jackets, so the American soldiers who have used them jokingly call it a "big bath".

But for the Soviet army, which only had to cross many rivers and lakes and seize the bridgehead on the riverbank, it was a very useful troop carrier with swimming ability.

And also let Su Jun transform the GAZ?46 amphibious jeep (commonly known as Gas-46) based on this chaotic personnel carrier, but because this personnel carrier is too heavy, the mobility on land and water is inferior to that of the Ford GPA amphibious jeep.

In addition to this amphibious personnel carrier, there is also the legendary Teal-American GMC DUK-353 amphibious transporter, which Vice Admiral Spruance also went to see.

The American-made GMC DUK-353 amphibious transport vehicle has been active in amphibious vehicles on Omaha Beach in Normandy and on Pacific islands and reefs throughout its original history.

The vehicle has a certain amount of armor protection and machine-gun fire, which shortens the time for which soldiers are exposed to enemy fire, which further increases the safety of infantry when unloading. Some LVT amphibious landing vehicles are also equipped with short-barreled howitzers to become an emergency amphibious tank, further enhancing the firepower projection capability of assault landing.

In addition to these two personnel carriers, Vice Admiral Spruance went to see the DD amphibious tank, which was modified from the M4 medium tank, as well as a number of other armored infantry fighting vehicles.

It's just that Vice Admiral Spruance at this moment didn't know that Chen Yanlong had already exchanged a large number of M113 armored troop vehicles for his own use, as well as selling them to the Japanese army for landing operations.

These two armored vehicles are better than the M59 and M75 armored vehicles developed and produced by the US military in the 50s, but the M113A1 in the future will soon replace the M113.

Moreover, Chen Yanlong also exchanged another batch of M26 heavy tanks (nicknamed: Pershing tank), M46 heavy tanks, M47 medium tanks, and M48 medium tanks to be sold to the Japanese army at any time to fight against the American army.

Of course, the M551 tank will not be exchanged for the time being, because Chen Yanlong is still disgusted with the Japanese army, and full of hatred, because he is a Chinese, although he has been reborn as Hitler, but his heart is still from the soul of his previous life, so he will not let the Japanese army become stronger, and now he is just using the Japanese army to fight against the US army to contain more troops from the other side into the European battlefield.

Of course, from later generations, he is also very aware that the United States and Japan will still be together in the future, and they are constantly harassing the peaceful rise of China, so now there is a chance to let these two future masters fight ghosts, and it is also a very happy thing to hurt their vitality, and they can also make a lot of money at this opportunity, and Chen Yanlong is still thinking about whether the US army should sell some advanced weapons and equipment to the US army if it is not advanced enough for the Japanese army, so as to fight the Japanese army.

Of course, the high-level leaders of Japan and the United States know nothing about Chen Yanlong's thoughts, and they would never have dreamed of it.

If the two of them know about it, I'm afraid they all hate Chen Yanlong and this.

When Vice Admiral Spruance held an operational meeting with Rear Admiral Julian Smith, commander of the 2nd Marine Division, Admiral Charles Moore, the first Chief of Staff of the Central Pacific Forces, Rear Admiral Kelly Turner, Commander of the Central Pacific Amphibious Fleet, Robert Richardson, Jr., Commander of the Pacific Theater Army, and Commander of the 5th Amphibious Corps, Holland Smith, and Rear Admiral Harry Hill, to discuss the strategic, tactical, and logistical issues and solutions to the attack on the Gilbert Islands. In particular, how to solve the problems of evading the Japanese artillery positions in landing operations, the problems of land, sea and air support, and the logistical supply fleet of the US army, because the US army's logistical supply fleet is almost completely devoid of radio communication equipment and lacks crews, especially those with combat experience.

Of course, there are also logistical issues such as transport ships, maintenance ships, supply ships, and oil tankers, as well as escort issues.

They had a very intense discussion on all kinds of issues, especially when Merritt Edson, chief of staff of Major General Julian Smith, commander of the 2nd Marine Division, raised about the large amount of weapons, ammunition, food, drinking water, and tanks that the Marines carried during the landing operation, and then successfully landed them.

Because the vehicle personnel landing craft LCVP they are using now has a lower draft than the island they are going to land, and it is easy to hit the rocks.

It was Rear Admiral Turner and Commander of the 5th Amphibious Corps who quarreled with Horland Smith about this issue, as they both had different opinions on how to solve it.

Rear Admiral Turner, one of the famous kings of amphibious warfare in the US military, is energetic, shrewd and capable, and is especially good at using new ideas, new equipment, new strategies and tactics, and Vice Admiral Spruance is an old classmate who graduated from the same military academy.

However, his personality and that of Commander Holland Smith, who also had a long experience in amphibious warfare training and exercises, were both short-tempered and shouting and arguing people, and their personalities were actually similar to those of MacArthur and Halsey, as well as Patton, in that they were both resolute, decisive and rude.

In response to the question raised by Chief of Staff Merritt Edson about the problems that arose when the Marines carried out landing operations, one shouted that it could not be solved and that it was a problem of nature, while the other retorted that the landing craft could not do it, so they switched to manpower to carry all the heavy weapons and equipment that hindered the success of the landing......

Chief of Staff Merritt Edson was embarrassed and at a loss for what to do, while Vice Admiral Spruance was full of black lines and the corners of his mouth twitched.

Because the combat meeting convened by him had just begun, and it had already been noisy like this, for him, who had always insisted that unity is strength, and that he should pay attention to details in his work, and no matter how detailed he was, he could not tolerate anyone who undermined his teamwork.

For this reason, he tried his best to suppress his anger, and said in a relatively mild tone: "Before the big war, I feel that if we want to achieve the final victory, then I hope that everyone can be tolerant and understanding to deal with the problems and opinions raised by each other, otherwise we will become a mess of sand before the war starts, and the Japanese army will have a chance to take advantage of it!" ”

"And I hope you don't forget that our allies in the European theater are not all smooth sailing in the war against Germany, and the German army will buy and sell advanced weapons and equipment to the Japanese army again at any time to resist our attack, so you will remain united to complete the landing operation in the Gilbert Islands and contribute to our next offensive target, the Marshall Islands!"

As soon as the words fell, Rear Admiral Turner and Commander of the 5th Amphibious Corps, Holland Smith, stopped arguing slightly awkwardly and continued to discuss the next battle meeting amicably.

When they held a combat meeting, Japan's Emperor Hirohito also summoned Prime Minister Hideki Tojo Nagano, Chief of Military Command, Chief of General Staff Sugi Sanmoto, and other high-level officials to hold an imperial meeting.