The ocean's mesmerizing azure waves have inspired generations to develop their ambitions and ambitions on it. The Indians and Polynesians rowed canoes, and the Chinese and Arabs began their voyages with sails very early.

If Eastern civilization originated from the Yellow River, the Ganges, the Tigris and the Euphrates, then Western civilization was born on the ocean. Blood followed civilization, and fire and sword descended on the ocean.

The trinity of naval battles, warships, and admirals was forged into the trident of the sea god Seton.

Most of the admirals before the "Great Discovery" were bold captains; Drake, Wright, Nelson, and other naval stars are just some tacticians who have won the whole army. Only Tirpitz, Fisher, and Yamamoto Fifty-six put their ideas on the stage of strategy.

Now, another admiral, using the whole Pacific Ocean as his arena, is going to perform a majestic opera with a prologue and an epilogue. He's Chester. William. Nimitz, a generation of genius in the US Navy.

Since the last day of the year at Pearl Harbor, Franklin. Roosevelt said on the phone: "Tell Nimitz to get out of the predicament of Pearl Harbor, to persevere, and to lead the war to victory." ”

Nimitz had been working endlessly for "victory" for five hundred and eighty days and nights. Initially, the Pacific Defense Building, supported by the Navy, seemed to be about to collapse. Japanese warships cruised in the Pacific Ocean at will, attacking islands and conquering land, resembling Japan's inner lake.

After China entered the war, the Japanese navy seemed to have encountered a natural enemy and avoided it like a devil. Southwest Pacific region. It became a hunting ground for the Chinese Navy.

For three years in a row, the entire Pacific Ocean seemed to have forgotten about the US Navy.

After three years of recuperation and three years of hard work, and with a strong industrial base, the US Navy returned to the Pacific Ocean three years later.

Wonderful life experience, for all the officers and men of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, this sentence is too apt. They walked together with the enemies who had fought to the death before, in order to destroy the more powerful enemies.

Politics, they don't understand, and neither does Nimitz. They only know. The enemy in front of us is China. A miraculously rising Eastern Empire. A magical country that forced the former world's first and third naval powers to unite against it.

During the Battle of Solomon, I wanted to hide in the dark clouds at all times. All longed, and the dawn appeared on the horizon.

The goal you want to get is obtained by your own efforts. The dawn of victory. It must be made by one's own hands.

Fought for half a year for a Karnal airport. The assault on the Solomon Islands was delayed. Because of a conflict with MacArthur. By the time Halsey had settled the dispute with "Doug," there were not enough warships and planes. The Allies were about to attack Sicily and Italy, and Churchill scrambled for troops and equipment. MacArthur couldn't beat Lae. Oh, God! China is still 2,000 nautical miles away. Surrounded by several island chains composed of countless islands, what time will it take to reach Hanjing?

If the question were to be posed to a mediocre admiral, he would present the president with a package of troops, a supply package and a long schedule, and then shrug his shoulders: "Sir, you know what is going on on the sea, it is like that, nothing can be done without it!" ”

But he was Nimitz.

Chester had pure Germanic blood in its veins. Nimitz was a nobleman of the 13th century Saxony, a heraldic sword knight who accompanied the expeditionary forces in the capture of the Gulf of Riga on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.

Later, the Nimitz family reached the pinnacle of honor and joined the Teutonic Knights, making them viscounts. In the years that followed, the Nimitz family rose and fell. There was Colonel Nimitz who served under King Gustav of Sweden, and there was also a merchant Nimitz who dealt in clothing in Hanover.

Chester's sense of the sea must have come from his great-grandfather, Heinrich. Heinrich in his early years. Nimitz was like a playboy: hunting all day long, dancing all night, not allowed to do business, and finally ruined, desperate, finally wanted to try his luck at sea, and became a commercial and shipping agent. In 1840, the elder Heinrich. Nimitz moved his family to the United States and settled in Charleston. Three years later, Chester's grandfather, Heinrich Jr., embarked on his own maritime adventures.

Not all immigrants in the New World were not all rejected, and immigrants of all nationalities had to form their own groups to resist the pressure of the environment. Carl J. Heinrich Jr. finally got out of his way in South Carolina and moved to Texas with a large Germanic group, establishing their own Frederickburg near Austin.

The Germans were assimilated into the New World, and Heinrich gave his Christian name "Henry". He has a lot of energy. He sold books and opened hotels, married the daughter of a German immigrant, and gave birth to twelve children one after the other, including a slender child named Barnett, who was the admiral's father.

Chester. William. Admiral Nimitz has little memory of his father. Shortly after he came into the world, his father said goodbye to this world. He only remembered his mother and grandfather, both of whom had a profound impact on him throughout his life.

The pretty Nimitz Mrs. Anna is the daughter of a butcher. Barnett was almost exhausted when he pursued her. Mr. Barnett had rheumatic heart disease and his legs were weak, like a weak calf, and the doctor advised him not to marry. Perhaps it was his weak beauty that impressed Anna, who married Mr. Nimitz, who was nine years older than her.

In February 1885, the future commander of the Pacific Fleet was born in a wooden house in Frederickburg. On Valentine's Day, Anna calls her son "My Valentine Baby." ”

Anna gave Chester roughness and strength, and perhaps serenity and modesty. Henry. Nimitz gave Chester Jr. the appeal of the sea. Mr. Henry, who called his inn "Steamboat Cabin," told his grandson so many stories about the sea, the island, the ship, and the captain. Texans have traditionally tended to be conservative. During the Civil War, Henry referred to his inn as "General Robert Lee's Cabin."

Still, if not by chance. The stage of the Pacific War will inevitably lack a protagonist who sings the finale. In 1900, the young Chester wrote to then-MP James Murphy. Sladen, asking for a recommendation to West Point. Sladen replied: "I recommend you to the U.S. Naval Academy, are you interested?" ”

Chester had never heard of the Annapolis Naval Academy. He was a poor boy in a small outback who, after graduating from high school in Tivey, worked as a chopping wood for the hotel, earning only fifteen dollars a week. His instincts told him that he should say to Councillor Sladen, "Yes." ”

What was it that made Nimitz the admiral who commanded the entire army and commanded a million men and thousands of ships in the Pacific theater? How did the average Nimitz become the best among the 1901 students who entered the school, the largest number of students in the 1901 class since the establishment of the Annapolis School in 1845?

Perhaps it's the story of "a little hat" he often tells: Chester's first day in middle school. His grandfather gave him a small riding hat. He wears a khaki shirt and trousers. Barefoot, with a poor and sour look.

The children of the rich family beat him and threw his little hat on the ground and taunted him. The next day, he wore it again. As a result, he was beaten again. The stubborn Nimitz was insulted. Study hard. Strive to be ahead and get ahead until you put on the admiral's golden spike cap.

Perhaps it was the stories of the sea, the ship, and the captain that his grandfather Henry told him that inspired the Chester cadet's ideals of the sea. His grandfather told him, "Sea elephants are alive. The captain's job is heavy and dangerous. You'd better learn it for the rest of your life. Do your best to learn and don't get bored. Everything you don't understand, make the most of it. ”

Perhaps it was his Germanic seriousness, perhaps it was his noble family name—Anna later married Chester's uncle, Willy, which kept Chester under the Nimitz surname—plus the good education that his stepfather gave him.

Willie Architect was a proud intellectual in Frederickburg. Nimitz distinguished himself in the navy, and later in the narrow iron grid of the submarine, he learned about the feelings of ordinary soldiers in the navy; His early life in poverty made it easy for him to understand this feeling. Although he had been on destroyers, cruisers, and battleships, he always considered himself a submariner. He worked and studied repeatedly, attending the Naval War College and the University of California, Berkeley.

By the time Roosevelt called, he had all the knowledge, skills, boldness, and judgment necessary for a post as commander of the Pacific Fleet. A pile of iron ore undergoes complex physicochemical changes, with the addition of various key useful elements, and is poured into a casting mold. Now, the casting mold is opened, and a new hero of the sea has appeared.

The Hawaiian Yaksha in July was hot and humid, and the war in the Pacific Ocean made Nimitz restless. He analyzed intelligence, materials, and charts one by one, and read the naval battle reports written by the captains one by one. Yes, the Japanese Navy was traumatized at Karnal and the Trough Sea, and the Army was in trouble in New Guinea. However, the U.S. military suffered losses and setbacks at the same time.

The Japanese proposed to change the offensive strategy to a defensive strategy, and the two armies would fight to the death on every island, shore and beachhead in the Pacific, so that China would pay an unbearable price, and then, through negotiations, end the war with dignity.

Nimitz did not like to be passive, and Nimitz would not accept such an offer from the Japanese. Because he was an admiral, the navy was never a defensive force.

He tapped the chart with a red pencil. That's the crux of the matter. The Pacific War was different from the wars in Europe and the wars in North Africa. Those are all traditional continental wars, and mankind has fought for thousands of years, and there are military books to follow and war strategies to follow. The Pacific War was an island war, a completely new war unlike any war of any era. We must break through the shackles of tradition and find a new path.

His gaze fell on Kuah Island and Truk again. If they could not be taken, the army would not be able to advance westward, and the battlefield would not be able to spread. Kuah Island and Truk are like two black cloths that cover everyone's eyes, so that they cannot see hope or light.

Is it possible to bypass them?

His heart was beating violently, comparable only to the time he had received the notice from Annapolis forty-two years earlier.

What apple inspired Newton and what boiling kettle inspired Watt? Flipping through the historical war report, there was a report from the distant Aleutian Islands in front of him, and after he finished reading it, his mouth was suddenly opened.

Two years earlier, while attacking Midway, the Japanese had captured the islands of Attu and Kiska at the western end of the Aleutian island chain. The islands are intrinsic to the United States, to which the stupid Tsar sold Alaska and Aleutian for seven million dollars.

The United States loves face as much as Japan. Early last year. Ordered to recover the two islands. However, there were not enough troops and ships, so they had to bypass the island of Kiska in the east and occupy the island of Attu in the west. On May 7, Francis. Rear Admiral Rockwell led the Army's Seventh Infantry Division, with the limited support of three humble battleships and an escort aircraft carrier, landed on Attu Island. The two armies fought fiercely in the snow, blizzard, and fog. Half a month later, the remnants of a thousand Japanese troops made a final suicidal charge shouting "Banzai". Rockchengl secured Atul and attacked Kiska again, only to find that the Japanese forces in Kiska had withdrawn - because their rear lines of transport had been cut off by the Americans.

This was the first "island-crossing operation" in the Pacific. ”

The ideological brilliance of its peculiar great invention eclipses the traditional concept of "island-by-island warfare." "Island-by-island operations" is the Army's style of play, which clears enemy strongholds one by one on the way forward. Do not let them remain in the rear as a hidden danger.

"Island-crossing operations" are truly the concept and tactics of the Navy. Just selectively capture a few stepping islands in the vast ocean. Like a frog jumping, you can skip over other well-guarded islands in China and go straight to mainland China and Hanjing.

What a wonderful and effective tactic! In the shortest possible time. Lowest price. To achieve the basic purpose of the war - to destroy the enemy's capital and other large cities. Cutting off Japan's military industry and other means of warfare will fundamentally paralyze China's huge military machine. Instead of destroying the enemy's war machine from brigade to division, as in previous wars.

Why was there no such strategy in past wars? Because at that time there were no planes, no aircraft carriers, no landing craft, and no such huge logistical capacity as it currently has. The development of technology, the development of weapons systems, is violently knocking on the door of strategy.

He closed the folders and carefully locked them in the safe. He lit a cigarette and looked at his watch, and at a quarter past ten, General Spruance must still be working. He walked out of his office and into the office of the chief of staff, who was in the same building.

Nimitz knocked on Spruance's door, "Raymond, it's me, are you free?"

The door opened. Lieutenant General Spruance stood in front of him with a smile on his face. The lieutenant general, neatly dressed and shiny in his leather shoes, was clearly ready to go for a walk with Admiral Nimitz. On those tense days, Nimitz's greatest pastime was walking with his chief of staff. The officers and sailors of the Pearl Harbor Naval District often saw the tired Chester and the radiant Raymond together, walking in unison and conversing enthusiastically.

The old Pacific Fleet Command was located at the submarine base in the Southeast Bay of Pearl Harbor. It was in that old building that Admiral Kimmel who watched the end of the old Pacific fleet. After Nimitz took office, in addition to using the old headquarters, he also opened his second headquarters in a villa surrounded by greenery on the northern slope of the Makalapa volcano. They came out of the headquarters and headed north along the road. If you go south, you will lead to the Hickam military airfield, and the hustle and bustle of the engines is a headache.

As usual, they began with light topics, about the recent operettas and films at Pearl Harbor, about Spruance's son Edward, and about Nimitz's son Chester Jr. William, they all served in the submarine forces of the Pacific Fleet. Chester. Nimitz is only better than Raymond. Spruance was a year older, and although he held a higher position, he was able to talk completely equally and without restraint.

Spruance was born into a wealthy Baltimore family and was well educated in high society. He and Nimitz took two completely different paths. Raymond was pampered from an early age, introverted and shy, neither serving as a class leader nor participating in intense sports and group activities.

History is a master of tragicomedy. Raymond's ancestors had no connection to the ocean, and if it weren't for a tragedy, he would never have put pen to paper. Raymond's grandfather, Hiss, suddenly went bankrupt, causing his life to change dramatically. He graduated from high school with honors and had no money to go to college. The bright future was wiped out in an instant. He hesitated for half a year, not knowing where to go.

Young Raymond wanted to be an engineer or a scientist, but his personality was not suited to be a soldier. He enrolled at Stephens College, specializing in electrical engineering, but never forgot his mother's wishes. When he learned about the enrollment of the sea school from the newspaper, he happily went there and was admitted. There is one less engineer in the American engineering community, and one more general in the Pacific Fleet.

"Raymond. I had a new idea. The admiral said enthusiastically. There was a sly glint in his eyes that had been slitting. (Nimitz's face resembles that of later Jimmy, President Carter.) )

"Chester," the lieutenant general replied. "I also have a great idea."

"Let's talk about it first." Nimitz had always trusted his chief of staff, and he was willing to hear Spruance's thoughts.

The moon slowly swam in the clouds, and the earth fell silent. Pearl Harbor under the control of the lights was dark. Spruance said calmly: "Chester, I think we have to take the initiative in the Central Pacific. Crossing the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands, attacking the Chinese Ryukyu Islands, and reaching China. ”

Nimitz's eyes widened, "Ignore Gua Island and Truk, and choose another path?"

"Yes."

"How did you come up with that?"

"I've been at the Naval War College, I've been in the Intelligence Department." He smiled. "I've been on land longer than I've been at sea. Previously, the Navy's strategy had been to fight a Jutland-style naval battle with the Japanese fleet. Now against China. The strategy of the Admiralty remains the same. In this regard, there is a mountain of information, ideas, tactics and strategies in this regard. However, there is no plan for how to defeat China and occupy China. ”

"Impossible!" Nimitz was amazed.

"Yes. No. The United States is an isolationist country. There really is no such thing as the Schlieffen Plan and the Yellow Plan. But. If China really starts to do it one day, will we only wage a war at sea with it? I was also amazed. So I looked around, except for some bookish and angry advice on paper. There is no such thing as an insightful solution.

I thought, maybe the Army will. It turned out even worse. The Army was still stuck in the European theater of World War I. Only General MacArthur gave some speeches on the war against Japan. That's all.

I never thought the Marines would make a name for themselves. They are too few and scattered, and they are nothing more than police officers standing guard at the embassy. I've been to Quiantico, and it's less than two hours from Washington. The result? I found it. There was a man named Peter. Eris's lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps had already drawn up a complete set of operational plans for attacking the islands in the waters around China. Its file code name is 712.

It is hard to imagine that this battle plan clearly describes the situation of each island in the waters around China, the depth of each lagoon, the meteorological data and tide tables of each sea area, which island lacks fresh water, and which atoll is how wide and deep the reef is, as if it were specially prepared for today's war!"

Nimitz was overwhelmed: "Raymond, tell me, where is this Eris now?"

"He's no longer alive. He's five years older than you. In order to investigate the situation of the islands on the spot, he disguised himself and went deep into the territory of China at that time, and never returned, and China sent his urn. The year was 1923, and I was a lieutenant colonel in the electrical department of the Naval Engineering Bureau, and I was stuck in piles of papers and electrical diagrams of the artillery control system all day, and I didn't notice it. ”

"I was working on books at the Naval War College to establish the Naval Reserve Training Agency. I wouldn't care about the death of an American tourist in a distant land. Again, the U.S. military could not declare Ellis a lieutenant colonel spy. Nimitz said.

"It's really bitter that I can't say it, so the Chinese dare to harm him."

"What did Lieutenant Colonel Ellis say on Document 712?"

He probably expected that China would not be polite to him, so he made up a plan before leaving. He underlined the sentence in red ink at the end of the document: "Advance along the base in Micronesia!"

Both generals were silent. They mourned the death of Lieutenant Colonel Eris. Only the river of war washed away the sediment of history and made people see clearly that Eris's mind sparkled like a diamond.

Now, all the troubles have receded into the background, and a new strategic plan is about to be formed. Time is like a naughty child, always joking. Some important ideas and works were not of use for a while, and no one cared about them, and the authors fell into disgrace during his lifetime. It was only after his death that people realized the value of his ideas. But man is gone, and he will not crawl out of the grave to see this day.

Nimitz said: "Attack the Marshall Islands. Which island?"

Spugains: "Kwajalein Atoll. It is the largest atoll in the world. There is an airport on Roy-La Moore Island in the atoll. The lagoon is large and deep, making it a good harbor. German merchant ships and naval assault ships were used in the First World War. ”

"Kwajalein isn't enough, is it?"

"It is also necessary to capture one or more of Majuro, Watje, Jaluit, Maloelap and Milli atolls to cover Kwajalein's flank. Based in Kwajalein. To the west, you can attack Truk, and to the northwest, you can attack Saipan and Guam in the Mariana Islands. Using Saipan as a base, B-29 heavy bombers will be able to fly non-stop to Hanjing, and the peacemakers' bombing efforts will become stronger. ”

What a Raymond! With his profound and far-reaching strategic vision, he has already crossed the 5,000-kilometer Pacific Ocean and thousands of islands and reefs to see the end of the war. Admiral Nimitz couldn't help but secretly applaud.

"Raymond, you're saying we set out from Pearl Harbor to attack Kwajalein Atoll. In this way, our warships will sail 2,200 nautical miles. Without the cover of land-based aviation, don't you think it's too risky? The Battle of Solomon showed how ships relied on land-based aviation. ”

"Chester. I didn't say a direct attack on Marshall. That was the decision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Their map scale is too small. They are pointing and directing the world's wars from above. ”

"And what about our opinions?"

"Chester, we still have to take the Gilbert Islands first."

"Lieutenant Colonel Kars led the Eingruppen Battalion to attack the Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffered heavy losses. There is no runway above Butaritari, the main island of Makin Atoll. ”

Spruance said firmly, "Let's fight Tarawa." There is an airport on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll. The bombers took off from the Funafuti Atoll in the Ellis Islands and were able to reach Tarawa, seven hundred and twenty nautical miles away. And don't take any chances. ”

"Is a Tarawa a little missing? Did the island of Nauru, 380 nautical miles west of Tarawa, also be struck? Nauru has an airport. Chinese planes taking off from Nauru threatened Tarawa. ”

Spruance's eyebrows furrowed. He bluntly told the commander of the Pacific Fleet: "Nauru is a real island. And not an atoll. China has long been taken away from Japan, and has been using its phosphate rock as fertilizer for its native farmland. Nauru has no bay and no suitable beachhead for unloading. Bombers of our army took off from the island of Funafuti. Been bombing Nauru. There is a very steep mountain in the middle of Nauru, and judging from the interpretation of aerial photographs, China has already built fortifications, and the phosphate mines on the island are also good fortifications, and it is not suitable to attack Nauru. ”

"Attacking a small atoll with a large amphibious force would not have been promised by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Raymond, please don't forget that the people need the propaganda for victory, and a single tarawa can't provide it. Where can you fight if you don't fight Nauru?"

"Makin Island."

Nimitz was silent. They had come to a large area of houses, and the quiet road had been completed. This is the limit of each walk. Neither of the two generals spoke, and they tacitly turned back and returned to the headquarters. Directly in front of them, the cone-shaped peaks of the Makalapa volcano towered black like a giant pyramid.

The two of them walked silently for a long time, each thinking about their own thoughts. Generals at each level think differently from different angles, battlefield commanders and staff officers think differently, and soldiers and politicians think even more differently.

Since Roosevelt had worked in the Navy, he gave priority to the Navy in terms of materials, but there was also a lot of interference from insiders. Spruance only considers the possibility and feasibility, and he is responsible only to Nimitz. Nimitz was also crowned with President Roosevelt, who was too much of an emperor. He thinks differently than his chief of staff.

But he had special respect for Raymond.

The road was almost over, and the figure of the front guard of the headquarters had already appeared. Nimitz spoke, "Dear Raymond, I agree. I'm going to go to Washington to persuade the president to approve of your plan. ”

"Thank you." The Vice Admiral's face showed a sincere sense of gratitude. Although it was dark and he couldn't see clearly, Nimitz could feel it completely.

"Let's make a plan as soon as possible. It's enough for us to be busy. The president's demands are so strict that even I am afraid of him. He patted Spruance on the shoulder, "Dear Ames, the battle is getting bigger and bigger." We will all be written down in history. The upper commander of the fleet has to make some changes. I know you want to personally command great battles, and I certainly want you to go. But Ames, I'm sorry, I really need you, I can't do without you. ”

Lieutenant General Spruce shrugged: "Dear Chester, I agree. He said suddenly. War is the most important thing. As far as I could, of course I wanted to fight the Oriental monkey face to face. But if you want me to stay here, I'll stay here. ”

Nimizzy gratefully shook Spruance's hands, "Raymond, I will never let you regret it. (To be continued......)