"By the way, the U.S. military's current plan, Schmidt, he reported to me that one of the main attack points of the U.S. military is the Makin Atoll, and this island they have already fought with the Japanese army on the island last year!"

"The goal of the U.S. military seems to be to divert the attention of the Japanese army again and attract some of the Japanese supply forces; As well as the destruction of the auxiliary seaplane base established by the Japanese army on the main island of Makin Atoll on Butaritari! ”

"When you are in diplomacy with the Japanese army, you should tell them about this, or this battle of Makin Atoll will not be fierce enough! I love watching them fight the hardest, and the most exciting! ”

"It's a pity that I can't get to the scene to see it, or it will be very exciting!"

When Chen Yanlong made a high-pitched speech, he suddenly changed his words, and then suddenly changed the topic.

"Yes! My Führer! ”

Faced with such an abrupt shift in the subject, Minister Ribbentrop was slightly stunned for a moment, and then immediately nodded in agreement.

"Good! Go down! Take a good rest, and then exchange information with the Japanese army! I'm looking forward to them being able to have a wonderful and fierce battle with the U.S. military in the Battle of Makin Atoll and the Battle of the Gilbert Islands! ”

In the end, Chen Yanlong waved his hand and gave an order.

"Yes! My Führer! ”

Minister Ribbentrop nodded respectfully, and then turned to leave.

And at this time, inside the headquarters of the commander of the Gilbert Islands.

Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, who is about 50 years old, is also waiting for the arrival of his fellow countryman (Yomiuri Shimbun) reporter Hidera Kagawa while watching various construction reports on the island with reluctance.

This person was traveling all the way from the Japanese mainland on the freighter "Akebonoshimaru" to interview Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki.

During this time, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki had been in his headquarters, looking at the operational command map and the reports on the progress of the project with distraught.

In fact, what he wants most now is not to be the commander of the 3rd Special Base Area, responsible for the defense of the Gilbert Islands.

The position he most envy and desire now is to be able to command the fleet in the blue ocean like Nobutake Kondo and Keno Kurita, defeat the American fleet majestically, and make contributions to fulfill his long-standing wish to become a naval commander as famous throughout the country as Isoroku Yamamoto.

But as if fate was playing tricks on him, the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet Command arranged for him to continue to command the fleet in battle, and also brought him to serve as the commander of the army unit, and he was about to be deployed to Tawa Atoll to defend against American attacks.

But even so, for him who wants to get ahead and climb up; was able to get the appreciation of the Minister of the Nagano Military Command; He also happily agreed, and swore in front of the other party that he would protect the Tawa Atoll well and never let the US military step into this coral reef.

Minister Nagano, who had never paid much attention to Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, also nodded with satisfaction and praised the other party.

It's a pity that appreciation is appreciated; However, the unit that Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki was given to Rear Admiral Shibasaki to fight at Tawa Atoll was the 6th Special Marine Corps of Yokosuka, which was only Keisuke Matsuo. Takeo Nakasaho of Kazutsui and the 7th Special Marine Corps; and the Yokosuka 2nd Marine Corps of Karashima Nakasa, with a total strength of about 3,000 men.

In this regard, Rear Admiral Shibasaki Keiji was very hard, so he was unwilling to immediately beg the other party to the head of the Nagano Military Command to send him more troops to defend him.

In the case of his soft grinding and hard bubbles, the minister of the Yongye Military Order, who was very annoyed and very displeased, scolded him for a long time; Only then did he obtain 1,300 engineers from the 111th Construction Team and 1,000 officers and men from the 4th Fleet Engineering Team to help him build defenses on the island while assisting his troops in fighting against possible landing operations by the American army.

But even so, the heavy weapons and equipment given to Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki by the Minister of Military Command Nagano were only a small amount.

In general, Rear Admiral Shibasaki Keiji built a home of heavy weapons and equipment that could be deployed on the island, and there were only five 8-inch shore defense guns.

6 14-cm coastal defense guns, 8 80-mm shore defense guns, as for the remaining mountain guns, howitzers, high-level dual-purpose guns, and field guns only 40 pieces.

Moreover, the ammunition of these artillery pieces is also very limited, and once they are exhausted, they must wait for replenishment before they can be used to fight.

As for the anti-aircraft machine guns, there were 38 in total, including 6 twin anti-aircraft machine guns.

In this regard, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, who was bitter in his heart, was still thinking of ways to maximize the effectiveness and contribution of all the resources at hand.

At the very least, he managed to arrange every officer and soldier and equipment to the place where he felt it was most suitable to kill the enemy.

In addition to this, he had the engineering and construction teams build seawalls on the various beaches, as well as a large number of artillery bunkers, as well as trenches and other defensive fortifications, and these fortifications. There were also plenty of shooting holes, underground passages, and finally he had troops deploy mines and obstacle areas on beaches and shallow water to prevent U.S. landing craft from landing.

Of course, in addition to these fortifications for defensive operations, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki attached great importance to the air defense communication stations he had established on the islands.

There are also 2 radio transmitters and 4 receivers.

In addition, six short-wave transmission stations and two long-wave transmission stations were set up again to communicate with the outside world, especially with the Japanese fleet in the vicinity and with the naval headquarters in a timely manner, and to report on the situation.

"Damn! Why is my fate so bad, how can I get the coveted naval position like those officers with background and family background, and command the fleet and the American fleet to fight! ”

When Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki finished reading the full report on the progress of the project in front of him, he muttered depressedly.

"Why don't those beautiful soldiers come to attack us here quickly, I'm still waiting for the defeat of them to make a contribution! No matter what, I must find a way to become a fleet commander, and I will never be able to save such a mediocre person for a lifetime! ”

Then, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki suddenly said with a sharp gaze and determination.

"Report! Your Excellency, Major General! Our reconnaissance plane discovered that a US plane had come to our Tawa Atoll and asked for a combat demonstration! ”

At this moment, a combat staff officer hurriedly came to him to report.

"Immediately carry out air defense operations, and all officers and men will immediately enter the bomb shelters and bunkers!"

"Damn, these damn U.S. forces have been attacking us for almost a week, and if they control the air supremacy like this, then we will be in trouble!"

In response to this, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki immediately gave a defensive order in a hurry.