On 8 March, two divisions of the Japanese army sent troops from Thailand, and in two months, they easily defeated the British army and captured Rangoon, the capital of Burma.

Since then, the Andaman Sea has been completely deterred by Japanese fighters, the Strait of Malacca has been occupied by the Japanese army, and the Japanese Navy can easily enter the Indian Ocean after clearing the channel of mines. In this case, the aircraft carrier USS Liberty Dragon was withdrawn from the Andaman Sea.

On 15 March, the USS Liberty Dragon led three Ba Xia-class anti-aircraft and antisubmarine destroyers to Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, the headquarters of the US Pacific Fleet.

This time, the Naval Resistance Army sent troops again, and Li Guang actually hesitated for a long time. The land defense of Tang Port is not weak, but the navy only has one battleship Atlantic, two pickup-class air defense destroyers, and one Tengu-class destroyer. And these four battleships have now been incorporated into the Far East Fleet of the British Royal Navy. Together with the British army, he assisted in the defense of the Bay of Bengal and took on the heavy responsibility of defending Ceylon.

Li Guang was worried that something would happen, so he left the two pickup-class destroyers with the strongest air defense capabilities to Zheng Xuechang's unified command, while the Liberty Dragon aircraft carrier only brought three Baxia-class air defense destroyers that had not yet formed combat effectiveness. Not only that, but the USS Liberty Dragon aircraft carrier only carried thirty-six fighters. Compared with the full load, there are twelve fewer fighters, and the combat effectiveness is also greatly weakened.

Although the strength of this fleet was weak, considering the nature of the battle, Li Guang did not think that there was much risk. What's more, at Pearl Harbor, the Naval Resistance Force will be supplemented by dozens of anti-aircraft guns, and the destroyers will soon be fully equipped with anti-aircraft guns.

In December 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese army made multiple assaults on the Pacific Theater, raging for a while, and the American and Allied forces were crushed. Due to the successive setbacks suffered by the US military, there was a sense of defeat in the US military. The US military high command felt that in order to reverse the situation of being passively beaten, it was necessary to first strike a blow at the arrogance of the Japanese army and boost the morale of its own country. But at that time, to win the war, the US military was quite powerless.

It was at this time that Professor Yuan was given an opportunity to meet with Roosevelt in the United States, and in this interview, Professor Yuan proposed a plan - an air attack on Tokyo.

This plan was exactly what Roosevelt wanted. This was the third thing that Professor Yuan reported to Li Guang last time, which can be regarded as a military cooperation between the Tang and US armies.

In this way, Professor Yuan won the friendship of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It also won great benefits for the Naval Resistance Army. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt immediately decided to take this relatively costly and successful and larger step, first bombing the Japanese mainland in order to psychologically shock the Japanese army and also to boost the morale of the US military.

One day in January 1942. At an operational meeting of the US High Command, Roosevelt confidently told his generals of the army, navy, and air force: "The Japanese are deceiving people too much. You should find a way to bomb the Japanese mainland as soon as possible. Bomb Tokyo, the heart of Japan, and give it some color and voila! ”

The generals looked at each other, and Chief of Staff Marshall said: "The Japanese mainland is heavily defended, the anti-aircraft fire is very strong, and our remaining base is tens of thousands of miles away from Tokyo, such a long distance. No plane can fly. ”

Admiral Kimmel said, "I have an idea, can we use the planes on the aircraft carrier to take off and bomb after getting close to the Japanese mainland?" ”

Army Air Corps Captain William said: "It's easier said than done! Sentinel boats patrol 700 nautical miles from the Japanese mainland, and aircraft on aircraft carriers must take off from 750 nautical miles away to avoid detection. Fly back after the mission. The round-trip voyage must be more than 1,500 nautical miles, which is impossible for carrier-based aircraft. ”

Kimmel thought: Yes. Another important question is what if a Japanese aircraft attack an aircraft carrier waiting to return from an air attack while the carrier-based aircraft are on a mission.

For a moment, the generals were stumped.

Roosevelt proudly threw out the plan brought by Professor Yuan Ye, which shocked the American generals for a while.

It's a fantastically bold plan, but it's very much to the taste of Americans, whose adventurous spirit is everywhere. However, to the surprise of the generals, Mr. President was able to come up with such a plan, which greatly put a lot of pressure on the generals who specialize in warfare.

The generals were also trying to vent their evil anger and expressed their support for this battle plan. President Roosevelt immediately ordered: "Within three days, come up with a complete plan for the bombing of Tokyo!" ”

Under the leadership of Marshall and General Kimmel, a complete plan was delivered to Roosevelt three days later.

Naturally, the planning capability of the US General Staff is not comparable to that of the Naval Resistance Force. This plan has richer content than the plan submitted by Professor Yuan Ye, and the details are quite complete in all aspects.

Roosevelt was so satisfied that he finally wrote two words on the report: "Implementation."

That's why the Liberty Dragon went to Hawaii again this time.

This plan has a fundamental premise, the B25 long-range bomber must be able to take off from the deck of the aircraft carrier. The United States is full of talent, and this task was entrusted to Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle, the most famous flying expert in the United States and a star flying star.

Three days later, Doolittle experimented that the B25 was fully capable of taking off from the deck at a speed of thirty knots on the carrier. Everything about the United States reflects the strength and efficiency of this industrial country, and all this is breathtaking.

If this problem is solved, then the other problems are not a big problem. The Naval Resistance Forces asked to join the operation, but the Americans were not very happy because they were worried about the secrecy factor. But the Naval Resistance Force not only provided this idea, but also took on two special tasks. And these two tasks are the links that are very likely to be encountered in this battle, and there are also links that are very likely to go wrong, but the Americans have no good way to solve them. They can't help but refuse.

As a result, the Naval Resistance Force was able to participate in the first bombing of the Japanese mainland in the history of World War II.

This was a psychological blow to the Japanese people and the Japanese military, and it was an extremely glorious battle. However, during the period between his departure to his arrival at Pearl Harbor on 1 April, Li Guang kept thinking about whether his plan was necessary, especially whether it was necessary for the Liberty Dragon to leave Tang Harbor for at least one month.

Many times, Li Guang wanted to go home, but the long-range attack made him extremely uneasy. However, this matter was decided more than two months ago, and Li Guang was unwilling to distrust the US military, not to mention that Li Guang had come up with it.

It's a terrible contradiction. Li Guang found it again. The traverser is not a savior, he can't do everything. In fact, there are many contradictions in Li Guang, such as the fact that the Naval Resistance Army is shrinking the business of Statue Island, but it is dividing its troops to go to Burma.

It is understandable that the troops sent to Burma have a bad conscience. And participating in the air raid on Tokyo is a bit too chicken.

At this time, he had been feeling uneasy about this operation in his heart. Information from Zheng Xuechang indicated that the Japanese army might attack Ceylon.

In order to support the Japanese Army's offensive in Burma, on March 26, 1942, five aircraft carriers (Akagi, Wyryu, Soryu, Shozuru, and Zuizuru) of the Japanese Combined Fleet led by the Akagi entered the Indian Ocean under the leadership of Nagumo Tadaichi (the Kaga was injured and returned to Japan for repairs. ）。 Three days earlier, the Japanese had also occupied the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean. The Andaman Sea has since become under the control of the Japanese army.

The Nagumo fleet was accompanied by five heavy cruisers of the Japanese Southern Fleet led by Jizaburo Ozawa and a light aircraft carrier Ryuchamp, which was in the Andaman Sea to support the Japanese war against Burma.

Li Guang immediately became nervous and sent several telegrams to Zheng Xuechang and Bao Gang in succession. Heightened vigilance is required.

Regarding the integration of the Atlantic battleship into the British Indian Ocean Fleet, Li Guang was still relatively relieved. In the face of such a powerful Japanese fleet. Even the formation of the aircraft carriers of the Naval Resistance Army plus the battleships had no chance of winning.

The reason why Li Guang handed over the Atlantic to Somerville, commander of the British Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet. Definitely not out of worship for its consistent track record. Rather, it was the agreement of Somerville's plan to fight the Japanese navy before Li Guang set out for the expedition.

Somerville was a very clear-headed admiral. Being able to occupy such an important position in the British Royal Navy in World War II, and with outstanding combat achievements, such a figure must not be underestimated. Before the war, Somerville proposed that the battleship Atlantic of the Naval Resistance Army be incorporated into the Indian Ocean Fleet.

The main reason is that Li Guang agreed with the tactics proposed by Somerville, that is, to jump out of the circle and avoid its edge. The withdrawal of the fleet from Ceylon left the British Navy in the shadows. Then look for fighters and carry out a sneak attack on the Japanese fleet.

This British admiral is the British general that Li Guang admires the most. And Li Guang didn't know that the British army had such a level of generals before he crossed, and he was extremely familiar with the navy. Experienced in naval warfare, calm, resourceful and far-sighted. In the past few years, Li Guang has also been well-informed, and he has long since abandoned the kind of angry youth thinking that uses race to judge the level of the people. Most of the British army was very contemptuous of the Chinese, and Li Guang also despised the British in his heart. But after learning about the British general's record and his prediction of the battle situation, Li Guang immediately gave a very high evaluation.

Somerville was once invited to give a lesson to the navy of the Naval Resistance Army, which was also one of the means by which Somerville won over the Naval Resistance Army.

In this class, Somerville fully demonstrated his military talents, analyzing not only the situation that Ceylon could face, but also the reasons for the defeat of the Allied forces in the Battle of Java. In the Battle of Java from mid-February to the end of February, the Japanese army once again won a complete victory. The coalition forces suffered heavy losses, and it is worth mentioning that the US military lost a light aircraft carrier "Langley".

Handing over the Atlantic to Somerville is also forced by the situation, no matter how it is said that Haitang is now an ally, and joining the Allied forces is justified and nominally unified command. But the Naval Resistance Army also has its own small abacus.

However, all coalition forces have such and such contradictions, and their own small calculations are one of them, which is almost a common problem and is common all over the world.

Li Guang is no exception, Zheng Xuechang was given very clear instructions, try his best to cooperate with General Somerville, but if Somerville uses the sea resistance army as cannon fodder, Zheng Xuechang knows what to do.

Another reason for putting the battleship Atlantic under the command of Vice Admiral Somerville of the British Army was that Somerville himself was an electronics expert, and his knowledge of electronic communications was very high. Britain developed radar, and Somerville was one of the core personnel. And Somerville used the Atlantik as a flagship this time, and generously installed an anti-aircraft radar for the Atlantic. Although it is only an anti-aircraft radar, there is no anti-sea radar and naval gun targeting radar, which is not bad. The British were more sincere in order to win over the Naval Resistance Army.

In World War II, there are not many people who are both famous generals and professional skills, but there are also many people, and Somerville is one of them. (To be continued......)

PS: From this chapter onwards, the plot will not be dragging its feet. Ask for points, ask for push, ask for votes.