Volume 23 Springboard to Progress Section 35 Key Factors

Shaoqing didn't have much to say, and Han Shaofeng agreed to send a marine regiment to take action and launch a feint attack in the Bahamas. This was just a feint. Of course, Han Shaofeng has basically determined the operational plan for the landing operation, and if he can successfully capture the Bahamas, then he can bypass Cuba and establish an forward base near the US mainland, which is the best. On the contrary, if the fleet is not able to defeat the American Atlantic Fleet, the attack on the Bahamas will not be successful, and the Marines will still have to attack Cuba.

Tan Renhao also began to work on completing the battle plan, and the most important thing was naturally intelligence, and when he began to formulate the battle plan, he first managed to obtain information on the military deployment of the US military in the Caribbean and the southeastern region of the mainland. The problem was that at that time, the imperial intelligence department did not know much about the military deployment in the eastern region of the US mainland, and most of what Tan Renhao could find was intelligence obtained by reconnaissance units on the battlefield. For example, photographs taken by long-range reconnaissance aircraft deployed in the Little Andrés Islands and the Cayman Islands over US military bases.

After the Spanish-American War, the Caribbean came under the control of the United States, and it became the starting point for the spread of American influence throughout the American continent. At that time, there were three islands in the Caribbean that were under the control of the US military: Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. The three islands are also the three largest in the Caribbean, with Cuba being the largest island in the Caribbean and serving as a barrier to the southeast of the U.S. mainland. In addition, it is also the main source of some important raw materials, such as sucrose. Hispaniola, where Haiti is located, is the core island of the Caribbean, and Haiti to the west is also the first country in the Caribbean to gain independence and the first republic in the Americas. Dominica, on the eastern part of the island, is a vassal state of the United States, which has gained independence in name but is actually under the control of the United States. Puerto Rico was not an independent country, and after World War I, the region became a U.S. mandate. The United States has the executive power and military authority to garrison Puerto Rico, except that Puerto Rico has not been formally incorporated into the United States and has become a state of the United States, Puerto Rico is part of the United States. Puerto Rico is an important base for controlling the Little Andres Islands, and it is also an important forward base for the United States to control the Caribbean and influence South America.

In the Little Andres Islands was laid. And after the deployment of shore-based air forces on the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe, and St. Kitts and Nevis, the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola were exposed to shore-based bombers. For months, the air forces deployed in the Little Andres Islands have been bombing US military bases on the two islands, especially the airfields and ports, as long as there is no other mission. After months of hard work, the U.S. military has now largely abandoned Puerto Rico, leaving only a symbolic force of several thousand troops there. In addition, the US military base in the eastern part of Hispaniola has also been largely abandoned. The U.S. military was concentrated in Port-au-Prince and several airfields in the vicinity of Port-au-Prince. If the bombing continues. The U.S. military will definitely abandon the island and fully retreat to Cuba.

Besides. The island of Jamaica, to the west of Haiti, has also become a key bombing target for the HNA airline. At that time, the bombers that bombed Jamaica were basically deployed at more than a dozen airfields in eastern Honduras and northeastern Guatemala, and did not use naval forces from the Little Andrés Islands. Originally, the US military strength on the island of Jamaica was not very large, mainly because the island lacked favorable terrain suitable for establishing military bases, especially aviation bases, and did not have an excellent natural harbor, and it was very close to Cuba and Hispaniola, so the US military did not attach great importance to the defense of Jamaica Island.

in the Caribbean. The US military has abandoned almost all the islands except Cuba, and here is the problem. Cuba is not only the largest island in the entire Caribbean, but also the most important island for the Tang Empire's navy, and its strategic primacy is irreplaceable by any other island.

The first is that Cuba is very close to the continental United States, with the narrowest width of the Florida Strait to the north being less than 200 miles, and the distance from Havana to Miami is only 300 kilometers. That is, the bomber took off from an airfield in the western region of Cuba and could reach the skies over the continental United States within an hour. And the distance from Cuba to New York is only about 2,200 kilometers, which happens to be the maximum combat radius of the Empire's newest bomber. In other words, heavy bombers deployed near Havana can fly directly over New York to drop bombs, and they can cover more than eighty percent of strategic targets in the eastern part of the United States and the Great Lakes region.

Secondly, the terrain of Cuba is relatively flat, except for the westernmost part of the island, and the southeastern part of the island, which is more mountainous, the rest of the terrain is mainly plain, so there are enough sites for the construction of airports. In addition, compared with other islands in the Caribbean, Cuba has a relatively complete transportation infrastructure and a relatively developed agriculture, which can effectively reduce the logistical pressure of the air force during operations.

Finally, Cuba was one of the islands in the Caribbean at that time with a natural harbor, with Santiago in the southeast, Cienfuegos and Matanzas in the center, and the capital Havana having the most complete port infrastructure. Among them, the port of Santiago was originally the home port of the Spanish Caribbean Fleet, and is now the most important military port of the US Navy in the Caribbean, its infrastructure is quite complete, and it can support hundreds of large warships to berth, which is not available in any other port in the Caribbean at that time.

Cuba's strategy is so important that the US military will naturally not ignore it, let alone take the initiative to abandon Cuba. It can be said that in the past few months, the US military has gradually shrunk its defensive line and abandoned some undefendable islands on the periphery, with the ultimate goal of holding on to Cuba and deploying more troops in Cuba to block the advance of the Tang Imperial Navy. At that time, Tan Renhao obtained a lot of photos taken by reconnaissance planes, and intelligence officers also analyzed the approximate deployment of US troops in Cuba and the approximate size of US troops based on these aerial photos.

The US military stationed in Cuba is divided into three defense zones, one is the southeast defense zone with Santiago as the main area, the second is the western defense zone with Havana as the core, and finally the central defense zone with Camagüey as the base. I|

Deployed are the US Marine Corps, naval aviation, as well as those who maintain the port. The Western Defense Zone is dominated by combat units of the US Army, with eight Army camps around Havana and more than 10 divisions deployed, as well as more than a dozen US military camps in other places. Covering these ground forces are hundreds of combat aircraft deployed by the US Army Air Corps on more than a dozen airfields, large and small. The Central Defense Region is also dominated by the Army, and there are also some U.S. Marines, whose main responsibility is to protect the lines of communication between San Diego and Havana, and its strength is relatively weak, only about five divisions, but the aviation in this area is the largest, and the U.S. Army Air Corps alone has deployed 800 combat aircraft, plus the aviation in the U.S. Marine Corps, the total number of combat aircraft exceeds 1,000.

There is no doubt that Cuba, the last line of defense outside the continental United States in the southeast, has been turned into a huge fortress by the U.S. military. Ever since the First Fleet and the Marines conquered the Panama Canal, the U.S. military has been increasing its forces in Cuba, and its military deployment has been adjusted according to changes on the battlefield. Judging from the information that Tan Renhao had at that time, the total number of US troops in Cuba exceeded 500,000, of which about 30 were in the US Army, including 270,000 ground combat troops. There are 180,000 marines, including 160,000 ground combat troops. There are about 2 naval officers and men.

In addition to the US troops directly deployed in Cuba, reconnaissance planes also "patronized" Florida during these months. and several other states in the Gulf of Mexico. As a large rear defense against Cuba, the U.S. military deployed more than 500,000 troops in Florida, which is a large number of troops. These units could cross the narrow Florida Strait at any time to fight in Cuba. And most importantly, at that time the US Army Aviation, as well as the Marine Corps Aviation, were in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi. Louisiana, among other places, deployed at least 3500 combat aircraft. These combat planes can quickly participate in combat operations on the Cuban side and provide cover and support for the US ground forces in Cuba.

Under these circumstances, it would be extremely difficult to conquer Cuba, even if it was only a successful landing in Cuba. Although Tan Renhao was not as familiar with landing operations as Han Shaofeng, he judged based on his previous experience in landing operations that he could land in Cuba. At least 250,000 ground troops will be deployed, and more than 2,000 shore-based combat aircraft will be deployed, plus two main fleets, and all support fleets to accompany the landing fleet. With such a huge investment, the casualties and losses will not be small. After the successful landing, an additional 200,000 to 300,000 ground troops will need to be committed, as well as a large number of auxiliary Cubans.

Even if the investment and losses are set aside, it will take at least half a year to defeat Cuba. Or even a year's time. If the U.S. military had persisted in resisting during this period, and the fleet had not been able to fully control sea supremacy. Then the combat time may be extended. Such a long combat time is unacceptable, let alone a year. Even if it takes half a year to conquer Cuba, it will not do the empire any good, and the negative impact on the strategy will certainly be very large, and eventually even affect the overall strategy of the empire.

At the beginning, Tan Renhao proposed to Han Shaofeng to abandon Cuba and directly attack the Bahamas, not only considering the issue of fleet operations. After having a comprehensive understanding of the US military's defense forces deployed in Cuba, Tan Renhao became even more convinced. In order to defeat the United States as soon as possible, occupy the forward base for attacking the continental United States as soon as possible. Then Cuba should be abandoned and the Bahamas should be chosen as a springboard for attack. Comparatively speaking, the defense of the Bahamas is much weaker.

The Bahamas has 700 islands, all of which are rocky rather than coral reefs, with the larger islands being Grand Bahama, Grand Abaco, Andros, New Providence, Acrin and Great Inagua. Among them, Westend, at the western tip of Grand Bahama Island, is only 100 kilometers from West Brown Beach in Florida. And Freeport City is only 1,850 kilometers away from New York. In addition, the terrain of these islands is relatively flat, and the highest point in the archipelago is only 67 meters above sea level, so almost all large islands are suitable for establishing airfields and deploying aircraft. Similarly, the terrain on the island is relatively flat, and it is easy to attack and difficult to defend, so the US military has not deployed many defensive forces in the Bahamas, and it is difficult to hold the Bahamas.

According to the defense deployment of the US military, because the Bahamas is north of Cuba, the main means of defending the Bahamas is to establish a defense line in Cuba to block the northward march of the Tang Imperial Navy. The main problem of the Bahamas compared to Cuba is the lack of adequate infrastructure. Among the archipelagos, only Grand Bahama Island and New Providence Island have ports, and the harbors have quite limited capacity and are very close to the US mainland, so they are very vulnerable to attacks by US air forces, and their ability to deal with air threats is relatively poor. In addition, most of the island's coastal areas are dominated by marshland, and at the same time there is a lack of transport infrastructure, for example, there are no roads on the island of Andros, and a third of the island is marshland!

Obviously, these disadvantages have a considerable impact on the commander's decision-making. Even if the Bahamas were to be captured, it would take time and effort to build infrastructure on the islands, which would require a considerable investment, perhaps not much less than waging a large-scale campaign, and it would take no less time. And at the same time, it has to deal with the air threat of the US military, which also requires huge investment. Of course, in the choice of offensive routes, Cuba had to be avoided, which was an extremely serious challenge for the logistics of the Marine Corps. It is precisely these factors that made Han Shaofeng not directly choose to attack the Bahamas, but would rather attack Cuba.

Tan Renhao is not unaware of the unfavorable factors in the Bahamas, but unlike Han Shaofeng, he believes that it is easier to solve the problems caused by the lack of infrastructure, dealing with air threats, and completing logistics support than launching a strong offensive campaign, so he firmly advocates directly attacking the Bahamas instead of going to Cuba to fight with the US military to win or lose. Sea Soul Volume 23 Springboard for Progress Section 35 Key Factors