Daniel. Smith, an ordinary young man from Philadelphia. His ancestors www.biquge.info came to the New World from Europe with what little possessions they had during the Irish potato crisis, and settled down in Philadelphia as a shoemaker.

Like his ancestors, Smith had a promising job as a shoemaker at a century-old shop in the suburbs of Philadelphia. But as the United States prepared for war, it began to expand its military aggressively. Young, full of hope for the future, and unwilling to spend the rest of his life in a small, damp, dark, pungent shoe polish and leather smell in a shoe store, Smith chose to join the army, hoping to change the fate of his life through war.

No one has ever wanted to be a grassroots person for the rest of their lives. It's not that I don't want to change my fate, it's just that I don't have the ability and opportunity.

Just graduated from high school, and even the ancestral shoe repair skills were not fully learned, Smith could only become the most ordinary big-headed soldier after entering the army. He has neither a strong background, nor a sharp mind to tie up with his boss, nor does he have the wealth to pave the way for himself. After a boot camp, Smith, who was not yet twenty years old, was labeled as physically fit and obedient. Subsequently, he was assigned to the Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps, a branch of the carrier-based infantry born from the Ming Navy's conquest of all parts of the world, has always been known for its hard work.

Compared to the Army, the Marines who have to conduct amphibious training are more difficult. Whether it's winter or summer, they all have to go into the sea to train. It is also necessary to sail with the warship and board the landing craft to conduct high-intensity mobile combat training. When there are storms and waves at sea, many recruits vomit all their bile.

After more than two years of hard training in the barracks, Smith finally waited for the opportunity he had always dreamed of making a career and making a fortune. Although the treatment of the Marines is very good, the US officers and soldiers hope to be rich, and I heard that it is the Ming Dynasty, who concentrates the wealth of the entire world, to make a fortune. As long as you can ascend to the land of the Ming Dynasty, you will have countless wealth in your pocket. It's a pity that the current Smith doesn't think so at all.

"Are we going to Pearl Harbor?" On the narrow landing craft, his hands tightly clutched the rifle wrapped in a tarpaulin, his face was calm, and Smith, who bowed his head slightly, listened to the excited chatter of the newcomers to the Marine Corps.

"I heard that Pearl Harbor is full of pearls, let's grab a handful and make a fortune!"

"Hahaha, I'm going to go home with beautiful pearls and make a princess crown for Jenny."

"Pearl Harbor is full of riches, and we're going to get rich this time."

"After drifting at sea for so long, now I can finally go ashore."

"Let's go and kick the ass of the Ming people!"

"I'd like to get a set of porcelain cutlery."

"What do you think of the cutlery of the commander of the Pacific Fleet?"

“......”

After the outbreak of the war, the United States once again carried out multiple rounds of large-scale military expansion, and many of Smith's comrades-in-arms joined the Marine Corps in the last year, two, or even months.

A veteran of more than two years of military experience, Smith, who is only in his early twenties this year, has become a non-commissioned officer with the massive expansion of the Marine Corps and has his own squad.

Smith looked up at his comrades with excitement on their faces, and his heart moved slightly. When I wanted to say something, I swallowed it back when it came to my lips.

As a veteran of more than two years in the military, Smith is not what he was when he first joined the army. Compared to these rookies who have not been in the army for a long time and have not really seen the cruelty of war. Smith knew exactly what his army was up against!

A great empire that conquered and ruled the entire world for hundreds of years. It has the world's leading advantages in politics, economy, culture, military, territory, population, industry, resources, etc. To go to war with such a country, where is the level of easy jokes?

Some unimportant information has long been circulating in the army. Smith knew that the mighty Ming Navy had more than 100,000 elite Marines deployed in this extremely important part of the Hawaiian Islands.

Not to mention the reasons for training, equipment, morale, etc. That's more than the U.S. Marines who are about to launch an attack on Hawaii alone!

Smith couldn't figure out what the pot-bellied generals were thinking, and if they had come all the way from the West Coast to Hawaii to die?

The cold wind of the early morning blew across the sea with a foul smell, and the raging waves stirred up the dense landing craft to carry up and float in the waves. The disgusting smell in the air and the heavy pressure of approaching the shoreline silenced the Marines, and several of the recruits even suffered from convulsions and vomiting from being too nervous.

"Woo~~~" The strange sound in the air made all the veterans suddenly tense their faces, and they raised their hands to hold their helmets while holding on to the handrails, while lowering their bodies as low as possible. And those recruits with immature faces are still looking around with ignorant faces.

"Shelling !!" The terrible shouts made everyone's spirits tense instantly. Marines with heavy equipment would be doomed into the sea by artillery fire.

Although the current sea temperature is not low, the marines loaded with various supplies cannot float out of the sea at all. Moreover, the surrounding landing craft will only accelerate to the beach when they are shelled, and will never stop to save people.

Of course, if the landing craft is directly hit by artillery fire, then there is nothing to worry about.

"Boom !!" The huge white water column and the deafening roar made the landing craft sway from side to side as if they might capsize at any moment. The marines inside the ship staggered against the wall of the ship or hugged each other. The situation was chaotic.

"Why is there still shelling?" A recruit whose mouth had not yet faded was not yet cleaned, shouted in disbelief: "Didn't our shelling in the morning wipe them all out?!" ”

Listening to the childish words in his ear, Smith shook his head secretly. The officers are talking nonsense that only the most stupid fool would believe.

The Ming Navy has painstakingly managed the Hawaiian Islands for more than 100 years, and the military spending invested in this archipelago is estimated to be able to build a large fleet. How could it be destroyed by hours of shelling and early hours of bombardment? If that were the case, it would be impossible for the Ming Empire to dominate the world for so many years.

"Don't die." After more than two years of baptism in the military camp, the current Smith is no longer the ignorant young man he was at the beginning. Any dream of making a fortune is a thing of the past, and for Smith, the most important thing now is to be able to live! If possible, he would now very much like to go back to his hometown in Philadelphia to continue repairing shoes!

On the morning of November 8, 1941, a convoy under the command of Fletcher launched a heavy artillery bombardment on the beach near Hilo, northeast of the island of Hawaii. At the same time, a large number of landing troops were sent to conduct landing operations on Hilo Beach.

At the same time, Task Force 57, commanded by Halsey, sent naval warplanes to provide support in the early hours of the morning and again bombed airfields on the islands.

At 11:40 a.m., nearly three thousand Marines from the first attack wave rushed to Hilo Beach.

The island of Hawaiʻi is the largest island in the entire Hawaiian archipelago. The entire island was formed by the eruption of five volcanoes, which is why the island is also known as the Volcanic Island.

The Big Island is located in the southeastern part of the Hawaiian Islands, with a total area of more than 10,000 square kilometers! That's twice as much as the rest of the islands combined. The island is home to one of the largest active volcanoes in the world. The island is saddle-shaped, with hundreds of kilometres of coastline and many high-quality sandy beaches. The specialty is macadamia nuts, a delicious hard-shelled fruit.

The island is the largest in size, but due to its geology and important deep-water harbors, it is not very important among the archipelago. The core of the Ming Navy in Hawaii is Oahu.

The Ming Navy has built three large airports on the big island, the most important of which is the largest, most functional and most advanced Hilo Airport in the entire archipelago. This is also the main reason why the US military has set its preferred target for attack here.

The Americans' transport ships were loaded with a large number of aircraft, and as long as they could seize the islands and repair the runways, they could immediately receive reinforcements from the air force. Moreover, these planes can also take off and land on aircraft carriers to send much-needed supplementary losses to US aircraft carriers.

The Ming Navy originally deployed a large island garrison, a coastal patrol unit, a coastal fortress shore defense force, and a single island garrison. Artillery units and the 21st Marine Division, which was the core of the garrison. The total strength was about 32,000 men.

Later, Zhang Cheng rotated the troops stationed in Japan, and a group of reinforcements came to the Hawaiian Islands. Among them, the 9th Marine Division was deployed by Yunmo on the big island, which made the defenders of this huge island more than 50,000. That's nearly a third of the strength of the entire Hawaiian Islands defenders.

On the other hand, the Americans chose to target the large island, rather than the smaller, easier to capture islands such as Maui or Lanai, which were relatively weakly defended. The main reason is that the Americans do not believe that they can completely seize sea supremacy.

Hawaii is the core area of the Ming Navy, and the Americans landed here not only to touch the tiger's buttocks, but also to directly slap the face of the Ming Navy. In the face of the surging counterattack of the Ming Navy, the Americans were not confident that they would be able to control the sea supremacy near the Hawaiian Islands.

In this case, choosing a larger island for long-term combat became their only option. (To be continued.) )