The combat operations of the Tang Army in attacking the Marshall Islands proved two points, which are also two strategic points that have been determined since the establishment of the Navy.

The first is the initiative, whether it is a land war or a naval battle, the initiative is very important, the side that holds the initiative has more choices, and the side that is passively defensive has no choice. Naval warfare requires higher initiative, and in the history of modern naval warfare for hundreds of years, initiative and victory are closely linked. Even in the stage of strategic defense, it is necessary to take the initiative to defend, rather than to defend passively, and to control the development of the war situation through active attacks and counterattacks is the key to victory.

Second, sea supremacy is still the key to naval warfare. With the rise of the air force, more and more people support the "decisive theory of air supremacy," believing that gaining air supremacy is equivalent to victory. As a matter of fact, after the aircraft carrier becomes the main combat ship, in the battlefield of naval warfare, the two points of sea supremacy and air supremacy complement each other. Air supremacy is the key to suppressing the enemy, but when taking the initiative to attack, in most cases, there will be no air supremacy without sea supremacy. The fact that the Tang Army was able to raid the islands controlled by the US military and destroy the airfields on the islands in one fell swoop was in fact a typical example of the Tang Army's transformation of sea supremacy into air supremacy. It can be said that sea supremacy remains crucial, and it is extremely crucial. …

In fact, this modest battle also proved a tactical point, and this is also a tactical point that has been proven in every naval battle in the past three years, and that is the importance of sneak attacks and surprise attacks.

Sneak attacks are largely strategic and campaign surprises, with a strong emphasis on tactics. From the time the Japanese attacked Naha and ignited the flames of war, the sudden attack became the melody of naval warfare, and of course, it was also divided into several levels. For example, the "Battle of the Philippines" is a typical example of a sneak attack at the campaign level, and in the following "First Battle of the Marianas", the first task force of the Tang Empire. and the surprise attack by the U.S. Task Force 16 at the tactical level. In fact, this is also an inevitable change in tactics after the large-scale use of aviation.

In the era of artillery warfare, both sides fought within visual range, and the two sides fought hand-to-hand combat, just as soldiers fought with daggers and bayonets. However, in naval battles dominated by aircraft carriers, the commanders of both sides can hardly see each other, and directly use bombers to launch attacks on the enemy who is hundreds of nautical miles away, or even hundreds of nautical miles. Before launching an attack. Almost no one knows the exact location of the other party. As a result, battles are almost always fought in bursts of air, and the first side to attack almost always starts with a surprise attack.

Land strikes are no exception, in the past the shore defense forces had to face enemy gunboats, at least they could see the enemy's warships, and then there was still time to prepare for battle. Now, the coastal defense forces are facing enemy bombers. When the bombers arrived, the bombs were dropped, leaving the defending forces with very little or even no time to prepare. Battles all started suddenly. And then quickly end it. Bombardment of the islands with gunboats. It takes at least a couple of hours, if not days, to destroy the target, while with a bomber. Maybe it's just a few minutes, a few tens of minutes.

Realizing that the initiative and sea supremacy are the high-ranking admirals of the navy, and those who can master the surprise attack are the excellent fleet commanders in the navy. This is no exception in any country, such as Tan Renhao, Halsey, Spruance and other excellent aircraft carrier fleet commanders, can seize any opportunity for a surprise attack. In fact, it was from this time that the tactics of aircraft carrier operations began to be enriched, and the focus of aircraft carrier tactics was exposed. More and more people can draw lessons from previous combat examples, and this has laid a theoretical foundation for training more aviation combat commanders.

Tan Renhao himself did not realize this, and it was Tan Renhao who perfected the theory of aircraft carrier tactics for the Tang Empire, but it was not Tan Renhao who wrote these theories into teaching materials and taught them to other naval officers. Since leaving the Naval Academy, Tan Renhao has never done theoretical research. In essence, he was a more hands-on commander, who gained experience and enriched his tactical thinking through practice. In fact. As a young general, he lacks war experience, so he pays more attention to war experience rather than pure theory. Perhaps, this is a secret of his success.

After seizing air and sea supremacy in the Marshall Islands, the 1st and 2nd Task Forces continued to bomb the two islands in accordance with the requirements of their missions to open the door for the marines to land. On the 18th, the Marine Division under the command of Marine Corps Major General Han Shaofeng successfully landed at Kwajalein Atoll.

Kwajalein Atoll is a large atoll consisting of 93 reefs with a land area of 16 square kilometers, making it the largest island in the entire Marshall Islands. This is the core of the defense of the US military in the Marshall Islands, with more than 5,000 ground troops deployed, in addition to complete airport facilities, barracks, warehouses, artillery positions, etc. However, with the fall of Wake Island, the difficulty for the US military to hold the Marshall Islands has increased sharply, and the US military has not had time to send additional defensive forces to this side, and the battle to attack the Marshall Islands has begun.

Han Shaofeng was previously a regimental commander under General Yan Guozhong, and after the outbreak of the war, he distinguished himself in the combat operation of attacking Ryukyu Island, and received two medals. Later, in the Battle of Iwo Jima, Han Shaofeng was the first to lead the army to kill on the beach, and then he was promoted to brigadier general division commander, went back to form a new marine division, and also left the command of Yan Guozhong at the same time, but he was not able to participate in the landing of the Ogasawara Islands, Hachijo Island, and also missed the early battle of the Mariana Islands Campaign, until the Marine Corps landed on Saipan, the Marine Division led by him rushed over. In the later combat operations of attacking Tinian Island and Guam, Fu Shaofeng once again performed prominently, was promoted again, and became a major general. Although Han Shaofeng is still nominally a division commander, he has already commanded two divisions to fight (because the establishment of the Marine Corps has always been relatively small, there is no rank of army commander, and the division commander can be a major general or even a lieutenant general, but most of the time, high-ranking division commanders have the opportunity to command several divisions to fight). Prior to this, Han Shaofeng had also commanded the combat operation of landing on Wake Island, and his ability was once again affirmed, and the time to capture Wake Island was several days shorter than expected.

The fighting on Kwajalein Atoll lasted only eight days. Although the U.S. Army had been relying on the defensive positions that had been built long ago to resist the attack of the Tang Imperial Marines, with strong naval and air support, the Tang Imperial Marines quickly swept the Kwajalein Atoll with superior forces, eliminating more than 2,000 U.S. troops, while the other American GIs obediently surrendered their weapons and were escorted to troop carriers and sent to prisoner of war camps in the rear.

On the 27th, Task Force 2 maneuvered to the waters west of Orr Atoll. That is, the sea north of the Majuro Atoll, which joined the bombing campaign on the Majuro Atoll. On this day, Tan Renhao also made direct contact with Lei Shaoqing, because the distance between the two fleets was already within 250 nautical miles, and the two even talked on the phone.

"To be honest, after you go back this time, you have nothing to worry about." Tan Renhao asked the communications officer to install another set of microphones on the phone, so that Hao Dongjue could also join in and chat at the same time.

"Shaoqing, you did a great job in the battle to kill the 'Enterprise' aircraft carrier. Maybe it won't be long. You'll be assigned to the Southwest Pacific Theater. ”

"Let's hope so, we still need a second task force here now, if the U.S. Navy is back in combat in three months. Then we would have to stay in the Pacific theater of operations. Lei Shaoqing also frowned, looking very excited, "Renhao, you kid is already a lieutenant general, maybe the marshal will give you a special surprise." ”

"I don't have such thoughts, the rank of lieutenant general is not easy to carry, and now a large group of people are staring at me!"

"Yes, Lao Lei, you don't know Yan Shiqi's expression when he saw Ren Hao. He must be going mad. Hao Dongjue interjected next to him.

Tan Renhao immediately glared at his partner, and then heard a burst of laughter coming from the earphones. "Okay, Lao Lei, let's meet and talk when we have time, when will HNA's bombers be able to participate in the operation?"

"Within three days, the Marines will also land on the Majuro Atoll in three days, and we will try to get rid of the Marshall Islands by the beginning of next month."

"Then let's work hard in the next few days, the Yankees had better surrender immediately, otherwise. They won't end well! ”

The two chatted a few more inconsequential things and ended the call. After Tan Renhao put down the microphone, he glanced at Hao Dongjue, and then shook his head with a smile. Hao Dongjue is the kind of person who would rather fear the world than chaos. Originally, Chang Jianxin didn't have a good impression of Yan Shiqi, and Lei Shaoqing has been complaining that Yan Shiqi forced Chang Jianxin into a dead end when dealing with the "Z Fleet". Hao Dongjue began to interject a sentence, isn't this obviously provoking contradictions within the navy?

Hao Dongjue also knew that he had said the wrong thing, so he stuck out his tongue and went to the communications officer to take the telephone away.

"The intensity of the bombardment in the past few days can be appropriately reduced, so that the artillery formation does not have to rush over at night, and the second task force is responsible for the shelling mission." Tan Renhao stopped the chief of staff of the fleet, "Also, you should pay attention to your words in the future." ”

"Okay, I know, I'll arrange it now!"

Tan Renhao sighed secretly, Hao Dongjue's temper did not change, and he would never be the commander of the fleet, at least no fleet commander would easily talk about other people's affairs.

On the last day of August, two Marine regiments under the command of Major General Han Shaofeng set foot on the Majura Atoll. The Marines landed at the eastern end of the atoll, near the U.S. airfield. Because of the heavier bombardment and shelling, the U.S. forces on Majuro Atoll resisted more weakly. By September 3, the Star-Spangled Banner was lowered and the Dragon Flag was raised, and the battle to capture Majuro Atoll ended on September 4, with 2,300 of the 6,500 American troops defending the island killed and more than 4,000 taken prisoner, including 3,500 wounded.

In the following days, the Marines, with the support of the fleet and naval aviation, quickly swept away more than a dozen other islands and reefs where small U.S. troops were stationed, and on September 12, the Marshall Islands completely fell under the control of the Tang Empire. At this time, the engineering units of the Marine Corps had also repaired the US airfields on the Kwajalein Atoll and Majuro Atoll, and had also expanded the area of the airfields, and the HNA immediately sent more than 500 additional warplanes to this area, and the transport fleet also sent a large number of military and engineering supplies.

According to Liao Hanxiang's plan, after completing the task of capturing the Marshall Islands, he should immediately organize forces to attack the Gilbert Islands, and the most important in the Gilbert Islands is Tarawa Island, which is the largest island and reef in the Gilbert Islands, with an area of more than 20 square kilometers, the atoll is triangular, and the middle is a lagoon, and the US military has built an airfield in the southeast corner of the atoll, deploying about 200 aircraft, and the US troops stationed on the island have reached 8,500 people.

The First Task Force originally planned to take part in the attack on Tarawa Island, but on 14 September, the day before the fleet left for the south, Tan Renhao received new news that the combat operation of attacking Tarawa Island was entrusted to the Second Task Force, and the First Task Force returned to the Southwest Pacific Theater at full speed.

"Why should we go back at this time?" Hao Dongjue was very puzzled, after the capture of Tarawa Island, the main offensive operation in the Pacific Theater ended, and at this time, the US troops on Tarawa Island were already in full array, and with the strength of the second task force, it was not enough to successfully kill the US military airfield on this island.

"I don't know, maybe something happened over there." Tan Renhao shrugged his shoulders, and the telegram did not explain why. "However, there shouldn't be a big problem here, and with the long-range bombers on Kwajalein Atoll and Majuro Atoll, Task Force 2 should have enough capability to destroy U.S. air force."

"Maybe Task Force 3 is in trouble, I hope it won't be a big deal."

"You crow's mouth, can't you think on the bright side? For example, now that the Marine Corps has gone to the Solomon Islands and needs our support, is it necessarily a bad thing? Tan Renhao glared at his partner.

"I didn't say that, I just estimated!" Hao Dongjue stuck out his tongue.

Tan Renhao shook his head, he himself didn't believe that it was a good thing, if the Third Task Force could support it, why should they be transferred back at the critical moment of attacking the Gilbert Islands?