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Paradise Island and its affiliated islands have a total area of several thousand square kilometers, and its sea area is even more vast. In this South Pacific island, which has been included in the Haitang Kingdom for two years, the Maritime Resistance Army has only stationed one company.

The rule of the Haitang Kingdom here is quite weak, and it is almost a free port. However, even if the ruling methods are quite modest, it can create 50 million Tang Yuan of income for the Haitang Kingdom every year, which is equivalent to more than 1 million US dollars.

Haitang's tax and other policies here almost continued the policy of the French colonial government, and the only change was the forced use of Tang Yuan for trading. The use of Tang Yuan on the territory of Haitang, of course, is a matter of course.

If Tang Yuan can be freely converted, or if he has enough cashing ability, there is no problem. The problem is that there are not many exchanges between Paradise Island and Datang Island, the mainland of Haitang, sometimes there is only one cargo ship every two months, and with the current economic situation of Haitang, it is impossible for Haitang to come up with hard currency for exchange.

So the French, who dominate the economy, soon can't bear it. Earning a bunch of Tang Yuan, but only circulating inside the paradise island, the French were worried that they would end up earning a bunch of banknotes. So they evacuated Paradise Island one after another. Go to the New Caledonian Islands, another French colony in the Pacific. It was a very peaceful settlement of the dispute between Haitang and the French civilians.

On the other hand, the French colonial army, which the Navy's resistance had been worried about, had not happened so far.

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Paradise Island, beautiful, comfortable and quiet, in a short period of three days, the soldiers washed off their fatigue and embarked on the journey again.

The 1st Task Force has been heading north since the 9th.

Compared with the new feeling of the soldiers, Li Guang's heart was not easy. Two pieces of news came from the United States. The good news is that the USS Liberty Dragon, a light aircraft carrier supplied by the United States, has left port and is heading to the assembly area. Although some people in the United States are not accustomed to the Haitang Kingdom, the face and reputation of the United States are already quite valuable, and they have not defaulted on their debts.

The bad news: the battleship Atlantic has been repaired, but it has been seized by an American court and cannot leave the port. The reason was that the government of Charles de Gaulle of Free France filed a lawsuit in the US courts. The Free French government-in-exile claimed that the battleship was French property and that the Naval Resistance Force had acquired the battleship by abnormal means. And also protested that the Haitang State had stolen the French colonies by illegal means.

Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free France, had received more than 200,000 French troops since the Allied landings in North Africa in November. The tail immediately pouted, and the lost dog dared to bark.

There was a conflict with France, which was something Li Guang expected. But I didn't expect that France would be a moth at this juncture.

Not to mention anything else, no matter what the Americans' considerations were, I am afraid that they would not take the initiative to provoke a war between the Haitang Kingdom and France at this stage. U.S. courts accepted the Free France's claims. It's nothing more than that some politicians want to take the nose of Haitang and take the opportunity to blackmail one or two.

Dr. Hu Shih, Haitang's minister to the United States, has begun to negotiate with the U.S. government. What is the end result. Li Guang is not worried. Although the current strength of the Naval Resistance Army cannot be compared with that of Britain and the United States, Li Guang is still not afraid of the strength of France. Just looking at the US government's release of the Liberty Dragon light aircraft carrier, we know that the Americans have no intention of completely breaking with the Haitang Kingdom.

However, for the time being: in the next battle of the Naval Resistance Army, a battleship can be much more useful than an aircraft carrier that has just entered service.

The arrow had to be fired. Li Guang could not stop the upcoming military operation, so he could only continue to sail north in a depressed manner.

After a day at sea, the fleet split into two, or three.

The distance between the two fleets is one hundred and fifty kilometers. Parallel north.

The aircraft carrier INS Inocean took two air defense destroyers along the western side of the course and sailed at a high speed of twenty-eight knots.

And the aircraft carrier PC took two air defense destroyers and sailed north at a speed of twenty-two knots. Other ships, due to the slow speed of the tankers, could only follow behind the formation of the PC at a speed of sixteen knots.

A day later, the Indian Ocean aircraft carrier was no longer able to provide air protection for other fleets, and the distance between the fleets had exceeded 400 kilometers, so the Indian Ocean aircraft carrier began to adjust its course and go straight to the northeast.

Such a division of troops was carefully considered by the Naval Resistance Force. In the South Pacific, there are hardly any ships in this region, and the only thing that the auxiliary fleet has to challenge is the climate, and if it is not too unlucky, there is almost no need to think about encountering enemy ships, and there is no problem with safety.

On the 13th, the aircraft carrier Indian Ocean had entered the edge of the Japanese-occupied zone.

In the central Pacific Ocean, from south to north, the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, and Wake Island are listed. Hundreds of islands are dotted across the ocean, and the three island groups stretch for more than 2,000 kilometers, forming Japan's eastern defense in the central Pacific Ocean.

And now the Solomon Islands, where the U.S. and Japanese forces fought fiercely, and New Guinea formed Japan's southern front in the Central Pacific. However, at the moment, it seems that little Japan may not be able to hold the southern front. However, from a situational point of view, even if Japan does not hold the Lomon Islands, if it retreats a little, it has a stronger southern defense line - that is, the island group centered on the Rabaul base on the island of New Britain. Although the Japanese offensive was blocked, the defense was still quite favorable.

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A year earlier, during Operation Gift, the Naval Resistance Fleet was lurking in the Abemama Atoll in the Gilbert Islands.

But the geography is the same, and the control is very different from what it used to be. The main island of the Gilbert Islands, Tarawa Island, has been occupied by the Japanese army, and the small islands and reefs of minor military value are also deployed with Japanese troops. The Gilbert Islands were already completely under the control of the Japanese army.

According to intelligence, there are Japanese airfields on the islands of Tarawa and Makin. The first target of the Naval Resistance Force's operation was to attack Tarawa Island and Makin Island.

Whether it is the navy or the army, the better the pre-war preparations, the better, and the battle plan is as detailed as possible. But in the course of the battle, it is impossible to follow the set script.

Originally, on the afternoon of the 13th, the aircraft carrier Indian Ocean had already arrived at the sea area where it was scheduled to fight, and it was planned. The fleet will attack in the evening and return home at nightfall. Then leave the battlefield at night so as not to be detected by Japanese reconnaissance aircraft.

However, from noon on the 13th, unpredictable tropical storms swept across the sea, and the waters of the Gilbert Islands have been pouring torrential rain.

As a last resort, the battle plan was temporarily changed, and the fleet continued to gallop north.

On the night of the thirteenth, the fleet continued northward.

In the early morning of the 14th, the rainstorm stopped.

The fleet has already reached the sea area 300 kilometers north-east of Tarawa Island from 400 kilometers southeast of Tarawa Island yesterday evening.

Three o'clock. Twelve reconnaissance planes took off first.

3:25. Thirty-six warplanes took off. Straight to Tarawa Island.

3:40. Thirty-six warplanes took off and swooped down on Makin Island.

On the take-off deck of the Indian Ocean aircraft carrier, twenty Wildcat fighters were ready for battle.

At 4:50 a.m., the Japanese airfields on Tarawa Island and Makin Island were attacked simultaneously.

The battle of the Naval Resistance Army. All the aerial bombs mounted by the fighters are aerial bombs produced by the Haitang Kingdom, and the lethality of the bombs equipped with air-detonation fuses on surface targets is extremely amazing.

The devil had never seen such a bomb before. A 500-kilogram bomb exploded in the air. Unless you can escape by hiding in an underground bunker. Under the shockwave of manic tyranny. Even the devil who was sleeping in the fortifications was shocked and vomited blood from his mouth and nose, and saw Aunt Amaterasu.

The current devil is no longer the early stage of the Pacific War, and the Japanese fighters at that time were basically naked on the airfield. But now there is a lot of camouflage, and most of the fighters are obscured by tree branches.

However, the island is a bit smaller. No matter how capable the little devil is, it is impossible to keep the barracks away from the hidden places of the fighters. As a result, at the same time as the devil's barracks were bombed, the planes also began to suffer.

Both land-based fighters and water reconnaissance planes were torn into hula fluttering leaves in the volleys of shrapnel. Before the devils had time to climb the anti-aircraft gun emplacement. The fleet of aircraft of the Maritime Resistance Army has returned.

At 7:30, all the fighters of the Naval Resistance Army were recovered. Although the air raid was carried out in the early morning and the strike force of the aircraft group was not sufficient, the effect was quite good. It was only after the war that it was learned that the intensity of such an air attack had completely destroyed the Japanese fighters. I really can't help but say that the luck of the Naval Resistance Army is not bad.

Therefore, in the process of leaving the battlefield of the aircraft carrier of the Indian Ocean, it was not disturbed by Japanese fighters.

The naval resistance fleet did not delay and continued to go straight north. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the Indian Ocean fleet took off again. Seventy-two warplanes flew straight to Kwajalein Atoll.

This time, the attack was not as smooth as it was in the morning.

Before the group approached Kwajalein Atoll, it was spotted by Japanese alert fighters. On the contrary, the radar of the reconnaissance planes of the Maritime Resistance Army did not detect this. According to the post-event analysis, the performance of the radar in rainy days is limited, and the performance of air detection needs to be improved.

Although the Indian Ocean group was intercepted by the Devil's planes, the battle was not fierce at all, and after a round of confrontation, the Japanese were shot down four planes, and the rest of the Japanese fighters scattered and fled.

After this battle, Li Guang found that the devil's combat style had changed. It's no longer like in the Battle of Midway. However, it is not a good thing for the Naval Resistance Army that the little devils are not desperate.

If the devil is willing to work hard, just four water reconnaissance planes and four fighter planes, and four 99 ship explosion planes are simply sending food to the naval resistance army. In future battles, the Maritime Resistance Force can reduce the threat from Kwajalein Atoll.

In fact, it's not that the devils are unwilling to work hard, the key is that these devils are all rookies, although they can be regarded as prepared to fight, but they lost one-third of the fighters in one round, and the courage they just mustered up disappeared in an instant.

When he saw clearly the fighters pressed by the rear team of the Naval Resistance Army like a dark cloud, he was immediately frightened, and the devil commander still had a light in his eyes, knowing what kind of goods his subordinates were, and immediately ordered to pull it.

The ensuing bombing operation, because the Japanese army had prepared for a long time, the effect was not very good, but the devils had never experienced the baptism of air explosives, and many devils still hid in the trenches very routinely, shooting in the air with machine guns and rifles. Under the shock wave of the incomparably tyrannical aerial bomb, it can only be said that the abuse is unbearable.

In the evening, the Indian Ocean, after recovering the fighters, continued to soar north.

(Weak question, do you have a ticket?) (To be continued......)