Just as the persistence of the Fourth Task Force in the Central Pacific could eventually allow other fleets to go all out to support the ground forces to launch an attack on the Australian mainland, what ultimately completely changed the situation of the Central Pacific War was not how powerful the Fourth Task Force was or whether the Fourth Task Force could defeat the Fifth Fleet, but the final result of the landing campaign on the Australian mainland, and the direct impact that would arise after the capture of Sydney.

By 2 August, Sydney had been largely captured, and the next day, Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 withdrew from their operations to attack Sydney. Although the fighting in Sydney lasted until August 8, the American forces lost Sydney on August 3. On this day, the Fifth Fleet withdrew from the vicinity of Gardner Island, and the Fourth Task Force, which was preparing to leave, also stayed in Apra Harbor.

"The U.S. military fought for nearly seven days, but it ended up withdrawing its troops on its own." Liao Hanxiang looked very relaxed at this time, "Although we can't stop the retreat of the American army, in these more than six days of fighting, the casualties of the American army are more than three times that of ours. They were once so close to victory, but who would have thought that at the last moment, it was not our Marines who defeated the American army, but the good news sent from thousands of miles away? ”

"When will Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 arrive?" Huang Xiaotian is not so poetic, and now he is most concerned about when the support of Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue will arrive.

"You can get there as soon as mid-term."

"So long? Even if you go at cruising speed, it's only going to be five or six days. Huang Xiaotian frowned slightly.

"What's the use of being in a hurry? And now that the U.S. military has retreated, no matter when the first task force and the second task force arrive, Spruance will not risk the Fifth Fleet, and as long as these two task forces do not appear in the Central Pacific for a day, then Spruance and Nimitz will not be able to sleep and eat, I am afraid that they are even dreaming about where Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue are and what they are doing! ”

Liao Hanxiang is also right. Huang Xiaotian laughed. As long as Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 don't show up, Nimitz and Spruance will have to be on guard at all times, and they will even feel that Pearl Harbor is not safe, and maybe the Fifth Fleet will flee back to San Francisco.

"Actually, I've already contacted Lei Shaoqing, and now the state of the first task force and the second task force is not very good." Liao Hanxiang didn't joke anymore. "The two fleets have been fighting for more than a month, and they have hardly stopped halfway, and according to the deployment of the naval command, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue are now rushing back to Port Vila. The two fleets will rest in Port Vila for a few days before coming over. We'll need time to get ready too, and Apra Harbor can barely accept three task forces, and we still have a lot to do. ”

"I don't want to be transferred back to Naha!"

"Don't worry, no one will let Task Force 4 return to Naha." Liao Hanxiang laughed, Huang Xiaotian's thoughts were understandable. "The Fourth Task Force has laid the foundation for victory in the Central Pacific Theater, and the maintenance work of the 'Honghu' aircraft carrier is still going on here, so you don't need to worry."

"Is this what the Navy Command meant?" Huang Xiaotian was still a little unsure.

Now, his greatest fear was that the Navy Command would move the Fourth Task Force out of the theater of operations after the arrival of Task Force 1 and Task Force 2. The other day. Huang Xiaotian received the news. The soon-to-be-repaired aircraft carrier "Qiandao Lake" will be replenished to the Fifth Task Force, which will remain in the southwestern Pacific until the end of the year, and perhaps until the beginning of next year. After the Army and Marine Corps have achieved a complete victory in the southeast of the Australian mainland, Task Force 5 will leave the Southwest Pacific Theater, and at that time, it is likely to be sent to the South Atlantic again to lead the strategic offensive there. Therefore, the repair progress of the "Dianchi" aircraft carrier, which was damaged by the Fifth Task Force, is still behind the "Honghu," so the Fourth Task Force can only wait for the "Honghu" to return to service in September. During this period, only two aircraft carriers of Task Force 4 could continue operations.

Correspondingly, at this time the Fifth Fleet had only three aircraft carriers repaired, and the other two aircraft carriers that were repatriated to San Francisco would be able to repair by the end of September. The Fifth Fleet, which had only one task force, barely held off the attack of the First Task Force at best. In the face of the two task forces with the most powerful combat capability of the Imperial Navy's aviation, the Fifth Fleet probably did not even have the strength to parry. When the time comes, will it be necessary for the Imperial Navy to keep Task Force 4 on the battlefield?

Judging from the specific situation of the fleet, it is normal for the Fourth Task Force to withdraw from the battlefield at this time. The officers and men on the two aircraft carriers may not have many problems, mainly because the officers and men on the escort warships have been fighting continuously for more than two months and have fought several high-intensity battles. In addition, the losses of escort warships were also quite heavy, and the remaining escort warships barely formed two aircraft carrier battle groups at most. Most of the cruisers and destroyers needed to be repaired, and whether the fleet could continue to fight was a question. If the command of the Navy had used this reason to withdraw Task Force IV from the fighting. That Huang Xiaotian didn't even have a chance to object.

But the problem is that Huang Xiaotian doesn't want to leave the battlefield when he is about to see victory. In his opinion, now that the Fourth Task Force has two aircraft carriers and the Fifth Fleet has three aircraft carriers, the Fifth Fleet will definitely come out to fight the Fourth Task Force in a decisive battle if the First Task Force and the Second Task Force do not arrive, and the Fourth Task Force will hopefully defeat the Fifth Fleet in a decisive battle. If the Fifth Fleet can be defeated in the end, then the Fourth Task Force will become the number one task force of the Imperial Navy, and Huang Xiaotian is also very hopeful of surpassing Tan Renhao and becoming the commander of the Imperial Navy's number one fleet. The problem was that the Fourth Task Force was not 100% sure of defeating the Fifth Fleet, and the Imperial Navy would not tolerate defeating the Fifth Fleet with heavy losses. Since there is enough strength to encircle and suppress the Fifth Fleet, why let the Fourth Task Force fight alone?

"Forget it, let's not think about these issues anymore, I promise, Task Force 4 will stay, and two more aircraft carriers will mean a lot, especially for our next operations."

"Attacking the Hawaiian Islands?" Huang Xiaotian sighed secretly, too

He didn't think about whether Task Force 4 would be transferred out of the war zone, after all, it was not something he could control.

"Yes. We will soon launch a campaign against the Hawaiian Islands. ”

Huang Xiaotian was a little surprised, as far as he knew, most of the troops and materials were now in the southwest Pacific, and attacking Australia was the primary task, what capital did Liao Hanxiang have to attack the Hawaiian Islands, which were several times more defensive than Australia?

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not bragging." Liao Hanxiang went to get a document, "See for yourself, we now have enough capital to attack the Hawaiian Islands." Of the several key forces, only the fleet is missing, so I can guarantee that the Fourth Task Force will not be transferred from the battlefield. ”

Huang Xiaotian immediately opened the document, and when he saw the specific content of the document, he immediately understood why Liao Hanxiang dared to make a guarantee.

In these months, Liao Hanxiang was not defending alone, but actively preparing for the attack. Because of the hard work of the Fourth Task Force, the counterattack of the US military was strangled in the cradle. Therefore, Liao Hanxiang had a part of the mobile force. Most importantly. Gu Xunlei's army units performed far more than previously expected on the Australian battlefield, so the Marine Corps committed much less troops to the Australian mainland than expected, and only 16 of the 30 Marine divisions were used in the end. There were also 14 Marine Divisions that had not been sent to the Australian battlefield at all.

Of these 14 Marine Divisions, five were already transferred at the end of last month, and the other nine will arrive within a few days. In addition, after the capture of Sydney, the army has promised to send additional combat troops to the Australian mainland, so the Marine Corps will reduce the strength of the Australian battlefield, and will be mainly responsible for providing logistics support for the army in the future, and try not to participate in front-line battles, so it will probably be able to draw out five divisions, and these five divisions will definitely be deployed to the Central Pacific. When the time comes. Coupled with the strength of the 14 divisions that Liao Hanxiang originally had in his hands, the Central Pacific General has a huge strength of more than 30 marine divisions!

The landing fleet is also moving to the Central Pacific theater, although most of the transport fleet is now concentrated in the southwest Pacific, but the Imperial Navy has added several transport fleets, and the landing fleet is also capable of carrying some war materials. In addition, the combat operation of attacking the Hawaiian Islands is an island-type landing warfare, so the demand for supplies is not as high as that of the ground battlefield, and the main supply work is to provide ammunition to the fleet. Therefore, the support ships in Liao Hanxiang's hands can ensure that at least 10 divisions can provide sufficient combat materials to attack any island in the Hawaiian archipelago. The number of troops invested in 10 Marine Divisions has already reached its peak.

HNA has also pledged to add at least 1,000 combat aircraft to the Central Pacific theater by mid-August, and to put in more than 1,500 support aircraft, mainly large transport aircraft. Comparatively speaking, attacking the Hawaiian Islands does not require very high shore-based combat aircraft of the sea air, and the main thing is to use the air force of the sea air. At that time, the army was already preparing to invest two airborne divisions on the Australian mainland, and Liao Hanxiang also wanted to engage in airborne troops in the Marine Corps, but was rejected by the Navy Command. HNA's transport aircraft were able to minimize the pressure on the transport fleet while increasing the offensive efficiency of the Marine Corps.

Most of the war supplies were also in place, Midway became a forward base, and if the U.S. forces withdrew from Gardner Island, then the fleet would be responsible for seizing sea and air supremacy, destroying the airfields on Necker Island and Nihua Island, and finally bombing Kauai. The specific combat operation has not yet been decided, but as long as the fleet can seize sea and air supremacy near Kauai, Liao Hanxiang will definitely attack Kauai directly, and will not waste too much time on the two small islands of Necker Island and Nihua Island, and finally use Kauai Island as a springboard to attack Oahu. As long as Oahu is captured, then the defense line of the American army in the Hawaiian Islands will be completely destroyed.

In Liao Hanxiang's battle plan, the most important and crucial thing is for the fleet to seize sea and air supremacy, and the fleet is the only support force for the Marine Corps to land on Kauai Island. Therefore, for Liao Hanxiang, the more concentrated in the Central Pacific Upper Ground Fleet, the better. Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 are the main forces, but they must be on guard against the threat of the Fifth Fleet, so at this time, the Fourth Task Force will definitely be left behind. If it is difficult to attack Kauai, even the third task force will rush to come, after all, there is not much trouble left for the third task force on the battlefield of the Australian mainland, and with the fifth task force and shore-based air forces, Gu Xunlei's ground corps can completely launch an attack.

"I have already sent a telegram to Yan Guozhong, after the first task force and the second task force arrive at Port Vila, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue will rush over in advance." Liao Hanxiang picked up the cigarette, "Now I can only roughly determine the next combat action, and after Tan Renhao and Han Shaofeng come back, we can determine the specific combat action." Of course, the command of the Navy will also give us new instructions. ”

"So we can only wait now?"

Liao Hanxiang nodded. "The transfer and deployment of troops are not yet fully in place, and we have only blocked the counterattack of the US army, and we have shifted to attack, the troops need to be adjusted, and we ourselves need to be adjusted, right?"

"So what can I do now?" Huang Xiaotian nodded, he also had to admit that he needed time to change his mind to adapt to the next battle.

"Help me roughly determine the combat operations of the fleet, I don't want to have a rough battle plan when the other fleet commanders arrive."

"This ......"

"It shouldn't be too difficult for you, right?"

Huang Xiaotian didn't hesitate anymore, he knew that it was Liao Hanxiang who was helping him. It stands to reason that Liao Hanxiang can wait until Tan Renhao arrives to determine the combat operations of the fleet, and it shouldn't be a big problem to wait for a few days. In addition, Liao Hanxiang is Tan Renhao's father-in-law, no matter how he says, he should also leave the benefits to his son-in-law. But Liao Hanxiang gave this important task to Huang Xiaotian, which at least proves that Liao Hanxiang is not that kind of selfish person, and he values Huang Xiaotian, a young commander, very much.