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Chapter 1778 is ripe

Located in Panama in Central America, the Panama Canal crosses the Isthmus of Panama, connects the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and is an important shipping artery, known as one of the world's seven engineering wonders and the "bridge of the world". Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThe Panama Canal is one of the two most strategically important man-made waterways in the world, the other being the Suez Canal.

Before the canal opened, ships traveling between the east and west coasts of the United States had to make a detour through Cape Horn in South America, but the Panama Canal shortened their voyage by about 15,000 kilometers. Travelling from one coast in North America to a South American port on the other can also save up to 6,500 kilometres. Vessels sailing between Europe and East Asia or Australia can also reduce their voyage by 3,700 kilometres via the canal.

The Panama Canal is 81 kilometers long, about 15 meters deep, and 150 to 310 meters wide. The water level of the entire canal, 20 meters above the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is equipped with two locks, and it generally takes seven hours for ships to pass through the canal.

Not to mention the strategic significance of the canal for military affairs, you must know that in the Russo-Japanese War, Tsarist Russia transferred 38 major warships of various types and about 20 auxiliary ships from its Baltic and Black Sea fleets to form a huge expeditionary fleet. Because Britain maintained neutrality and did not allow the Russian expeditionary fleet to pass through the Suez Canal, the Russians could only make a detour to Vladivostok from the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, all the way to Vladivostok, which lasted half a year, but was attacked by the *** Navy in the Tsushima Strait, except for three ships that fled to Vladivostok, the rest of the army was annihilated, and the total loss of ships amounted to 270,000 tons, which was greater than the total losses of both sides in the famous Battle of Jutland in World War I.

For the Hawaiian Islands, which has already seized possession of the Hawaiian Islands, if the Panama Canal is destroyed, the sailing time of US ships between the Pacific and Atlantic will inevitably double, and this is undoubtedly of decisive significance to the idea of "forced landing" of the United States by the emperor, the government, and the military. For the United States, if it needs to take such a long detour to the west coast, its homeland defense and future counteroffensive in the Pacific region will have adverse effects.

According to the "U.S.-Pakistan Treaty" signed by the United States and the Panamanian government supported by the United States on November 18, 1903, the United States guaranteed the independence of Panama, Panama handed over the Canal Zone to the United States for permanent occupation and control, and some islands in the Gulf of Panama were also handed over to the United States, and the United States paid Panama a one-time payment of $10 million, or $250,000 per year since the opening of the canal in 1913.

Although the United States has long recognized the importance of the Panama Canal, it has generally believed that as long as the island chains such as the Philippines, Midway, and the Hawaiian Islands are not lost, the possibility of an attack on the Panama Canal is very small, so it has only built a number of coastal defense batteries on both sides of the canal.

Before the outbreak of the Pearl Harbor incident, the situation in the Pacific region was tense, and the US Navy urgently built more than 10 artillery batteries on the Pacific side of the canal, and at the same time introduced British radar technology and built coastal radar base stations to monitor the airspace over the Pacific Ocean for 200 nautical miles. The Army, on the other hand, has urgently deployed more than 11,300 troops in the Panama Canal Zone, including artillery, air defense, and mechanized units equipped with tanks and armored vehicles.

With the start of the war between Japan and the United States at the end of last year, the Japanese army made a series of combination punches, which made most Americans dizzy, but Roosevelt was not dizzy, he was keenly aware that the Panama Canal is the core of the entire West Coast defense circle, and only when the Panama Canal remains unobstructed can it effectively support the Pacific theater, so he deliberately strengthened the protection of the canal zone, and once again mobilized more than 32,000 troops to Panama, once necessary, he could at any time counterattack the enemy who landed in the north and south of Panama to ensure the safety of the canal.

At the same time, Roosevelt ordered the Navy to step up the construction of permanent batteries and fortifications in the canal zone, and concentrated the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns purchased from Sweden and the Erlikon 20mm anti-aircraft guns purchased from Switzerland to the vicinity of the locks and dams in the canal to prevent the surprise attack of naval aviation.

The topography of Panama and the surrounding areas is mainly mountainous, the highest peak is as high as more than 3,000 meters above sea level, the rainforest here is dense, the mountain passes are dangerous, and there are many steep cliffs and steep banks along the coast, the US Army has gathered heavy troops to take precautions, and if the Japanese army is forced to land, it is bound to pay a huge price, even if it is lucky to attack the canal zone, it is more than worth the loss.

Central America, where Panama is located, is basically the backyard of the United States, as long as it can hold out for a few days, a steady stream of large troops will arrive, and the Japanese troops who have landed can only be outflanked, surrounded and annihilated, and finally lose their lives in vain.

The only way for the Japanese army to do so was to destroy the Panama Canal.

However, this is not easy to do, although the first navy now has an absolute advantage, but even with the use of large-caliber naval guns, it is not easy to destroy the canal waterways dug in the rocky mountains. The only weak point of the canal is the two locks on the canal that maintain the water level, but the locks are not built close to the bay, the nearest lock on the Pacific side, nine kilometers inland, and there are mountains in between, and the Japanese battleships may not be able to hit accurately even if they risk driving to the shore to bombard.

Once the dam is destroyed, the lake in the dam will be empty, and the entire canal will be quickly paralyzed, and repairing the dam will not be easy. What's more, the dam is made of reinforced concrete, and the gate is made of steel with a thickness of 1.5 meters, and the strength of resisting torpedoes and aerial bombs is even better than that of a battleship's hull, and the width of the gate is only more than 30 meters, which is much more difficult than a battleship that hits 200 or 300 meters.

It was in this situation that the *** Navy again strangely appeared in the Bay of Panama and dealt the Americans a blow to the head.

After the Pearl Harbor incident, the Japanese battlefleet and the second aircraft carrier fleet remained in the Hawaiian Islands, waiting to cooperate with the army to launch a landing operation on Oahu, while the naval aircraft carrier task force made a long-distance voyage of nearly 5,000 nautical miles after receiving repairs and supplies from supply ships, and approached Central America without the Americans being at a loss.

At six o'clock in the morning, when the sun was still hanging on the eastern horizon, the officers and men of the US Army Air Corps, who were in charge of today's training and duty tasks, all gathered in the airport cafeteria for breakfast. In addition to mentioning the outbreak of wars in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, government officials and congressmen constantly appeared on the news, calling for men to join the army and women to work in factories to defend the United States and democracy and freedom.

After more than a year of training, and the large number of aviation schools that had been established before the war, the number of pilots in the United States increased dramatically, to more than 10,000 pilots with hundreds of hours of flying experience, and the number is still growing.

It is precisely because of the rapid increase in the number of pilots that the air force of the navy and army is constantly being formed.

In order to strengthen the territorial defense forces, on the eve of the fall of France in June last year, the United States formed four air military districts in the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest, and at the height of the air battle in Britain, these military regions were renamed the first, second, third, and fourth air forces.

Outside of the country, the Philippine Air Force was formed in July last year and reorganized into the Far East Air Force in October, the Hawaiian Air Force was officially established in November last year, the Panama Canal Air Force was established at the same time, and the Alaska Air Force was also formed before the Pearl Harbor attack.

Among them, this air force stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, in order to strengthen its establishment, has three fighter squadrons, equipped with two types of fighters, the American P37 and P40; There are three bomber squadrons, one for equipped B17 long-range bombers, the other for dive bombers, and one for torpedo aircraft; A squadron of reconnaissance planes is mainly responsible for the 500-kilometer perimeter of Panama Bay.

"Woo-"

As the terrible air defense sirens sounded, most of the American pilots who were having dinner were still thinking that the commander of the flight team was still engaged in an emergency flight exercise, and the Japanese planes had suddenly arrived and began to dive and pull up continuously, spraying furious ammunition from the nose and wings, and dropping a string of aerial bombs from under their buttocks, to wantonly bomb the fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance planes parked at the airfield.

American commanders and pilots panicked and fled in all directions, and many were asking why the radar did not detect the adversary in advance? Could it be that the instruments purchased with a lot of money are all furnishings?

This is wrongful, it turns out that there are a large number of expatriates in South America, they are very familiar with Panama and the surrounding areas, the Japanese base camp and the *** navy that carried out this air raid mission have long been well aware of the defense situation in Panama.

In order to avoid being discovered by the US military in advance, the Japanese naval task force arrived at Chiriqui Bay in the south of Panama's border with Costa Rica the night before, and made some preparations, and when the sky was dawning, more than 300 warplanes took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier, went all the way north, crossed the mainland before sunrise, and came to Moskitos Bay in the northern Caribbean, and then turned south and pounced on the canal zone.

When the Japanese planes approached, the radar crews of the US military had actually seen the flashing bright spots on the electronic displays, but the Americans were using British radar technology, and there was no identification system for friend or foe, and they looked at the course of the group and mistakenly thought that the fighters were flying from the east coast of the United States.

The radar officer made a telephone call to the duty officer at the headquarters, but the duty officer went for breakfast, and while waiting for a reply, the Japanese fighters had already flown over the canal zone, and the 99 warship bomber bombed indiscriminately at the US Army Air Force at the airfield under the cover of the Zero fighters.

I have to admit that the tactics of the *** people are very deceptive and sudden, at this time, there are no people in the anti-aircraft gun positions concentrated near the canal locks and dams, and the 97 ships from the Japanese aircraft group are attacking, and they quickly rush towards the dam on the Atlantic side.

More than 90 97 ships attacked, and the first wave of attacks on the dam and lock achieved miraculous results, using only 26 torpedoes (14 of which missed), the lock was completely destroyed. The water poured down the collapsed locks and dams and drained into the Caribbean Sea, and several multi-thousand-ton cargo ships heading towards the canal were hit by the monstrous current and capsized in an instant.

The spirits of the man were lifted, and he rushed down the canal again, towards the side of the Pacific Ocean. However, by the time the group arrived at the dam on the Pacific side, half an hour had already passed, and most of the US air defense crews had already entered the gun positions and began to shoot wildly at the air, trying to stop the Japanese fighters from approaching.

Japanese fighters and dive bombers, after destroying all the fighters of the American Air Force at the airfield, rushed to the vicinity of the dams and gates in the canal zone in time. The overwhelming number of fighters tried their best to suppress the anti-aircraft artillery fire on the ground and create an opportunity for the 97 warships, which were the main force in attacking the fortified positions.

After paying the price of 12 fighters exploding in the air and disintegrating and 21 crashing into the ground or exploding on the water, nearly half of the more than 40 torpedoes hit the target, and the locks and dams near the Pacific side also collapsed.

You must know that the Panama Canal is basically regulated by sluices to pass ships, and the entire canal area is actually suspended more than 20 meters above sea level, and the two dams on the east and west coasts have been destroyed one after another, which is undoubtedly a devastating disaster for the canal area.

Due to the huge drop, the lakes of Gatun, Alajuela, and Miraflores, which are connected to the canal, are frantically pouring water into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and dozens of ships that are passing through the canal zone are either overturned by the raging rapids or run aground after the water level drops rapidly, and the entire canal zone is quickly paralyzed.

With the departure of the first wave of aircraft, the second wave of Japanese carrier-based aircraft arrived.

This time, without a detour, the Japanese fleet flew directly over the Azuero Peninsula from Chiriqui Bay and launched a devastating blow at ports, barracks, oil depots, airfields, radar stations, and other facilities in the Panama Canal area.

During the carrier-based aircraft operation, more than a dozen destroyers entered the Bay of Panama to lay mines, and a large number of mines filled the area of the canal estuary, undulating in the waves.

Nagumo did not send a third wave of planes, and after the second wave of planes returned, he led the fleet, quickly left Chiriqui Bay, joined the destroyer fleet south of the Gulf of Panama, sailed directly into the Pacific Ocean, and disappeared without a trace.

......

Nanhua, Xinjing, Xuanwu Building Conference Room.

After receiving the news of the air raid on the Panama Canal by the first naval aviation unit reported by the US government, the top leaders of the An Jiajun, including An Yi, were all dumbfounded and felt unbelievable about the audacity of the *** navy!

"Good boy!"

After listening to the telegram dictated by Li Yufu, director of the Communications Department of the General Staff Department, Vice Admiral Jiang Shangmin, deputy commander of the Navy, who attended the meeting on behalf of the Navy, blurted out:

"Long-distance continuous operations, successively attacking the Hawaiian Islands and the Panama Canal, *** Navy, this batch of mongrels, simply brought the tactics of aircraft carriers to the extreme! If the Canal Zone really suffers as the Americans have reported, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean will be completely separated, and from the east coast of the United States to Asia, it will have to make a detour to the southern tip of South America. ”

At this time, An Yi was also dumbfounded.

After receiving an urgent telegram from the United States just now, An Yi thought it was to coordinate the rescue of the Philippine American troops, so he asked Li Yufu to read it out, but what he didn't want to get was such earth-shattering news.

"Something is wrong!"

Yang Jie, who has always been steady and unsure and doesn't like to speak, couldn't sit still, he stood up, strode to the map, looked at it carefully for a while, turned his head and said to An Yi:

"Chairman, everyone, *** people have almost hit the door of the United States this time! With the paralysis of the Panama Canal, the U.S. Navy and Army in the Pacific region really fell into disadvantage. Originally, I thought that in the eyes of those guys in the Japanese base camp, it was already the extreme to push its defense line to the Hawaiian line, and then it was expected that the defense would be contracted, and Hawaii would be used as a magnet to attract the US military to attack, and then concentrate on taking New Guinea, the Aleutian Islands, and the Solomon Islands, in an attempt to conspire with Australia and New Zealand, and completely expel the British and American forces, and then wait for an opportunity to find opportunities for peace talks. For ***, this is already the best result that can be expected!

"However, I miscalculated, I didn't expect the *** people to have such a far-sighted vision, and at the same time as attacking Pearl Harbor, they also set their sights on the Panama Canal! Now the United States has suffered a much more severe blow than I originally expected, and it is expected that in less than half a year and a year, the Panama Canal will not be restored, and then not only Hawaii will be run by the Japanese army, but I am afraid that even Australia and New Zealand will also occupy it, and the capital for peace talks owned by the *** people will be much more sufficient!

"In the current situation, the strength of the Japanese army is undergoing new changes every day, we can no longer limit the war situation to the Middle East, it is time to launch an offensive on all fronts!"

"Brother Geng Guang, please rest assured, the Americans are not so easy to succumb!"

An Yi knows very well how powerful the United States mobilized in World War II, and a documentary about the Pacific War that he read when he was reading said that the United States built more than 130 aircraft carriers in the war, and the loss of ships at Pearl Harbor was simply drizzle. Seeing Yang Jie's worried face, he hurriedly comforted:

"The war potential of the Americans, far above ***, if nothing else, is more than twice the population of ***, plus the almost endless industrial potential, it only takes two to three years to recover the disadvantage of fighting against ***. It is almost impossible for people to use force to coerce the United States to surrender!

"Two sneak attacks in a row will not only not discourage the will of the United States to fight, but will completely anger the Americans! Even if the Panama Canal is temporarily unnavigable, the United States can make a detour from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and attack military bases in Madagascar and the Lanyin Islands. I thought that in the next step, the Americans would definitely choose the right time to counterattack in order to boost the morale of the army. ”

Deng Bin, Zhao Dongquan, Yang Fei and others listened to An Yi's analysis and looked excited.

Yang Fei said loudly: "Before, we were afraid that we would fight too hard and provoke the Japanese army, but now we don't have to worry about it, right?" There was no turning back from the bow, and the two loud slaps from the *** people gave the Yankees a profound lesson, and the Yankees estimated that they would begin to regret why they provided so much steel and oil to *** in the first place, as well as a large number of advanced weapons manufacturing technology......

"Haha, the continuous attack of *** people, but we have vented the grievances we suffered before, think about how much pressure the Japanese army equipped with B17 bombers in Hangzhou Bay three years ago? Now it's finally Americans' turn to enjoy the bitter fruits themselves......"

"Yang Fei, don't say it, in fact, I'm quite relieved! I can't wait to laugh three times now, what the Americans did in the past was completely lifting a stone to shoot themselves in the foot! ”

An Yi's words made the atmosphere in the conference room extremely cheerful, and then he changed his words: "However, the current situation does not allow us to gloat, so we still have to deal with the Americans from all aspects, otherwise the situation is very likely to continue to erode!"

"Indeed, as Brother Geng Guang said, the time is ripe for our battle at present! However, it is already February, and the summer season in Burma and India is coming soon, and after entering March, the temperature in East India and Burma will rise rapidly, up to 40 to 50 degrees Celsius. Also, before launching a full-scale counterattack, there must be a period of material accumulation, and it is very easy to fight a war, but how to guarantee logistics? If there are no guns and bullets in the fight, who will you cry to?

"I'm here to say that after the rainy season in September is over, we will launch a full-scale attack, and until then, everyone will have to bear with it! Of course, we are not in vain, by July this year, after years of construction, Panzhihua iron mine should be a large amount of iron, plus several large domestic iron mines have been put into production, our steel output will exceed 30 million tons. At that time, our steel supply will be fully guaranteed. In the next few months, several key railways will be opened, and many of the elephant roads that cross the jungle will become flat asphalt roads, and our mechanized troops will be able to drive straight in.

"Moreover, in the past few months, *** will definitely continue to transfer troops to fight in New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand, and when we launch a counteroffensive, the Japanese army will be caught off guard, and there will be no time to mobilize enough troops to rescue! We can completely flatten the three places in one go, connect Siberia, China, West Asia and India together, multiply the strategic depth and comprehensive national strength, and lay the foundation for a strong country in one fell swoop. What do you think of my suggestion? ”

"Very good!

Yang Jie pondered for a moment and looked happy: "This is the most secure plan, if we don't launch it, we will break through the earth and achieve a decisive victory!" ”

The other generals all said that it was wonderful, and Deng Bin said with a smile: "If Hutou and Xia Jian know the news that there will be a big counteroffensive after September, I don't know what they will be happy about." For more than a year since they took Siam, the two of them have been suffocated! ”

"Don't tell them just yet!"

An Yi looked around at the generals and said solemnly: "As long as we know about this, two months before the start of the war, we will transfer the heads and brains of several front armies to Nanhua to jointly improve the battle plan." It's not that I'm afraid that they will leak secrets, but I'm worried that the Japanese army will find an abnormality through the subtle changes in our army. People launched the Pacific Campaign, which was very adventurous and sensitive to subtle changes in the outside world.

"The Persian Gulf region is far away from the mainland, and it is inconvenient to travel to and from the mainland, so it is not a must-defend place for the Japanese army, so they don't care much about our attack, but the East Indies, Burma, and Malaya are different, all in the surrounding areas of the Lanyin Islands, one is an industrial base, the other is an oil production area, and another is an important production area of natural rubber and tin. As soon as an anomaly is detected, they will immediately mobilize forces to make up for the shortcomings of the defensive line, and for us, it will be passive! ”

Speaking of this, An Yi changed the topic: "Okay, leave this topic for a later discussion, let's continue to discuss the plan to save MacArthur and his army that the Air Force and the General Staff just formulated last night, and everyone can talk freely.....

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