The combat operation for the landing on Kauai was codenamed "Engine". This code name should not have been taken by Liao Hanxiang, perhaps by some staff officers of the theater command, which is a bit like a nickname for a person, and within the navy, the code name of the combat operation is "27C2", which means the second landing operation in 27. This is the official designation of the Imperial Navy for each combat operation. It's just that the world knows more about the code name "engine", and few ordinary people can understand the meaning of "27C2".

As the commander-in-chief of the landing operation, Han Shaofeng arrived at the front line headquarters on Nihua Island on the evening of 4 May. During this combat operation, Han Shaofeng was the supreme commander of the Marine Corps, and it was rumored that after this battle, he would be promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Imperial Marine Corps. Fang Hsiao-hsien was the front-line commander of the landing operation and was responsible for landing at the main attack site. Long Zhen was the deputy commander and was responsible for directing a marine division to go ashore at another landing site. The entire landing operation was planned by Han Shaofeng. After arriving at Nihua Island, Han Shaofeng did not forget to contact the fleet that was replenishing ammunition and fuel at the nearby anchorage. He did not let Tan Renhao go to the island, but personally rushed to the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier to discuss with Tan Renhao the specific actions of the landing operation.

"Eight hours of fire preparation before landing can be reduced to five hours." Han Shaofeng's expression was very serious, this was his usual style. "The artillery support of the 3rd Task Force, as well as the shelling formations of several other task forces, was enough to suppress the U.S. shore fire on the eve of the landing. Reducing the fire preparation time by three hours, which also extends the support time of the Marines once they have come ashore, can the fleet guarantee full support to the Marines during the day? ”

"Do your best, now the new general is not here, and I can't guarantee it." Tan Renhao glanced at Han Shaofeng, "Don't worry, we will do our best, according to the continuous combat capability of the third task force, it should not be a big problem to ensure full support during the day." Only in this way, the 3rd Task Force and our artillery formation will definitely have to withdraw at night to replenish ammunition. ”

"We will send a few artillery battalions ashore during the day, and we will try to establish a defensive line during the day, and a large-scale attack will start the next day." Han Shaofeng pulled out a map of Kauai, with a red line on it. "This is the extent of the landing site that we need to control on the first day, and as long as we build this line, we will be able to withstand the counterattack of the American forces at night. May 6, the day after landfall. We will attack the airfield northeast of the junction with all our might, and try to take it within three days, extending the defensive line to this yellow line. ”

Tan Renhao took a closer look and found that there was a yellow line on the map, and this line basically enclosed one-sixth of the area of Kauai.

"Isn't that a little too fast?" Zhu Rongzhe preemptively asked Tan Renhao, and what he meant was that the Marines would occupy one-sixth of Kauai within five days of the start of the landing, which was beyond the combat capability of the Marines.

"We do have this in mind, but in order to have a safe landing ground, we need to at least control this line of defense." Han Shaofeng pointed at the yellow line. "When the time comes. Task Force 3 needs to provide us with support in the coastal waters, and the escort carriers that belong to the landing fleet, as well as the smaller aircraft carriers in the theater fleet, are enough to provide aviation support to the marines. ”

"The question is. How to solve the problem of air defense? Tan Renhao asked another question.

"As long as the U.S. fleet cannot pose a threat to the landing fleet and the transport fleet, the air defense problem is relatively easy to solve."

Tan Renhao nodded, he didn't doubt Han Shaofeng's confidence. After the "Peregrine Falcon" fighters were equipped in large quantities, the escort aircraft carriers and small aircraft carriers were no longer equipped with special bombers, and all of them were equipped with "Peregrine Falcon" fighters. These fighters have a very strong ability to strike at the ground, and when carrying out ground bombing missions, they can completely replace the bombers of the past, but they lack some of the ability to bomb the sea. Therefore, Han Shaofeng has no shortage of fighters in his hands, but a special bomber to deal with the fleet.

"Then we're going to try to get the Marines in control of the area within five days."

Tan Renhao pressed his hand. stopped Zhu Rongzhe, and then said to Han Shaofeng: "General Han, the fleet will act according to the plan, and the main question now is not whether we can hit anywhere, but whether we can find the US Fifth Fleet." ”

"We can also understand this, in fact, the threat of the Fifth Fleet to us is also very huge." Han Shaofeng took out a cigarette, "Therefore, in the landing operation, in addition to assisting the Marine Corps in attacking. The main task of the fleet is to find and annihilate the Fifth Fleet. As long as the Marine Corps successfully lands ashore, establishes a landing ground, and deploys the HNA fighters to the front-line airfields, then the fleet can reduce its support for the Marine Corps and switch to a state of naval warfare. ”

"Okay, then we'll head north tonight."

Han Shaofeng stood up. "I've already arranged for the liaison officer to go to another fleet, General Tan, I'm going to trouble you this time."

"Where, we are all soldiers of the Imperial Navy, and this is also a matter of duty, so what's the trouble?"

Both of them laughed, and after Tan Renhao sent Han Shaofeng away, he asked Zhu Rongzhe to supervise the supply work. In the early hours of the morning, both task forces had completed their replenishment work, and Hao Dongjue had drawn up a plan for the bombing of Xindi based on the news sent from the Third Fleet. Immediately, the two task forces left the anchorage on Nihua Island and headed for the battlefield of Kauai Island.

At night, in addition to the six task forces, all units, fleets, fleets, and ships that directly or indirectly participated in the landing operation were all nervously making preparations. In order to be able to lay down Kauai Island in one fell swoop, Liao Hanxiang planned for more than a year, and also spent more than a year on preparations.

To the southeast and northeast of Kauai, dozens of submarines are concentrating on the predetermined patrol area. A large part of these submarines received temporary orders to change their course while carrying out the combat mission of breaking diplomatic relations, and some of them rushed over after receiving orders while carrying out surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Their mission is to establish a submarine cordon on the north and south flanks of Kauai, closely monitor passing ships and vessels, and issue an alert if they are found. Comparatively speaking, submarines are much less efficient than reconnaissance aircraft, but they are much more hidden. These submarines will be lurking during the day and floating on the surface at night to recharge and breathe, so it will be difficult for US anti-submarine ships and anti-submarine patrol planes to detect them, and even more difficult for passing fleets to spot.

The landing flotilla carrying the first landing force left the anchorage of Nihua Island in the middle of the night. None of these landing ships were very fast, and they would arrive near the landing site the next morning. And the convoy of transport ships carrying large quantities of combat materials, engineering equipment, as well as engineering troops, is also approaching at full speed. These convoys will also arrive at the landing site the morning of the next day, and as long as the officers and men of the Marine Corps have seized the beachhead, they will send the engineering troops and engineering materials ashore, and the engineering troops will rush to repair the temporary wharves and artillery positions, so that more heavy equipment can be brought ashore. Strengthen the assault capabilities of the Marine Corps. The relevant organizational work is in charge of Fang Xiaoxian, compared to Long Zhen, Fang Xiaoxian is more careful, and he is more suitable for completing this kind of thing that needs to be done carefully.

The Navy's Strategic Strike Force bombed Kauai twice during the day, and also dispatched more than 100 bombers to bomb Oahu once under the cover of carrier-based fighters, forcing the U.S. military to leave more fighters over Oahu to cover the more important Pearl Harbor. During the night, hundreds of bombers of the three aviation regiments of the Strategic Strike Force again went out against the American barracks on the island of Kauai. Important defense area. Thousands of tons of bombs were dropped on the staging sites and three important transport transit sites.

Task Force 3 did not shell Kauai again after dark. Rather, it patrols the open sea. The officers and men who had been fighting for several days were given a few hours of rest, but most of them did not go to rest, but were busy maintaining and maintaining the heavy guns on the battleship. According to the plan, Task Force 3 was to return to the battlefield at about four o'clock in the morning and begin shelling Kauai at five o'clock. At that time, the artillery bombardment formations of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th task forces will also join the ranks of the artillery bombardment, and only the 7th and 8th task forces will not be equipped with separate artillery formations, so they will not participate in the artillery bombardment before landing.

HNA's shore-based air force transferred four squadrons of fighters to Nihua Island that night. The fighters were deployed at the airfield to ensure that there was enough ammunition and fuel for the fighters. Liao Hanxiang also specially arranged for two 10,000-ton ships to deliver thousands of tons of ground ammunition and tens of thousands of tons of fuel to Nihua Island, which was enough for the fighters of the four squadrons to use for more than 10 days. In addition, shore-based air forces deployed on Gardner, Lysan, and Midway are also ready to move these shore-based fighters as soon as the Marines capture the front-line airfields and restore them to operational capability. Provide support to the Marine Corps.

The fire support fleet, which accompanied the landing fleet, and the theater fleet, which arrived with the landing fleet, were also deployed in the first half of the night. The scale of Liao Hanxiang's concentrated fire support fleet this time can be said to be unprecedented, even exceeding the scale when he landed in Australia last year. The core strength of the entire fire support fleet is 28 escort aircraft carriers and 54 fire support vessels. Each escort carrier carries two squadrons of Peregrine fighters, for a total of 56 squadrons, or 672 fighters, deployed on these carriers. The fire support ships are divided into three types, one is the A type equipped with 12 20-barrel rocket launchers, a total of 24 ships, that is, 5760 rocket launchers can be used at the same time. The other is the B type, which is equipped with 24 200 mm or 155 mm single-barreled guns, a total of 18 guns, that is, 432 heavy guns that can fire at targets at the same time. The last type is the Type C, which is equipped with 8 400 mm or 360 mm cannons, for a total of 14 guns, that is, 112 cannons that can fire at the same time. These heavy guns and giant guns are all old guns that have been retired from battleships, and the barrels are scrapped, so they can no longer be used in naval battles, but they can continue to play an effective role in ground artillery fire, which can be regarded as a direct reflection of the navy's savings. Based on the above data, in the fire support fleet, there are a total of 672 fighters, 5,700 rocket launchers, 432 heavy guns, and 112 giant guns. If all the fighters drop bombs at the same time, and all the rocket artillery and artillery fire at the same time, they can dump thousands of tons of ammunition at the same time, covering an area of 15 square kilometers, and deal a fatal blow to all targets in the range, even the strongest permanent fortifications of the US army cannot withstand such a powerful fire strike.

It was not meaningless that Liao Hanxiang had spent more than a year preparing for this campaign, and if he had attacked Kauai half a year earlier, then Liao Hanxiang would not have been able to gather such a large number of reinforcements. For example, 12 of the 28 escort aircraft carriers were commissioned within half a year. In addition, the Peregrine Falcon fighters were not equipped with naval aviation half a year ago. At least half of the Type B, as well as all Type C fire support vessels, were commissioned during this half-year. It can be said that the postponement of the campaign for half a year gave the US Fifth Fleet a chance to breathe and regather its forces, but on the whole, it was this half a year that gave the Imperial Navy, especially the Imperial Marine Corps, the ability to attack independently. It was also the Australian landing operation, as well as the landing operation on Kauai Island, that finally determined the status of the Marine Corps and laid the foundation for the future development and growth of the Marine Corps, and even the establishment of an independent Marine Corps aviation unit.

The combat operation of the landing on Kauai was much smaller in scale than the Australian landing campaign, after all, Kauai is an island with an area of less than 10,000 square kilometers, and the Australian mainland is a continent with an area of more than 8 million square kilometers, even if the southeastern part of it alone is more than 1.5 million square kilometers. However, judging from the quality of the landing force invested, the number of fire support troops, and the density of troops, this was definitely an unprecedented landing operation. If the U.S. military turned Kauai into a solid walnut, then Liao Hanxiang wielded a big hammer, and when this hammer fell down, even the hardest walnut would be smashed to pieces.