, 837 landed in the Americas I

Eastern Pacific.

Under the afterglow of the setting sun, a huge Japanese fleet appeared on the horizon, two newly launched Tone-class heavy cruisers took the lead in opening the way, ten Shiraro-class destroyers and four Fengfeng-class destroyers spread out on both wings and marched on guard, and four famous heavy aircraft carriers, four landing ships, four light cruisers, two fast tankers, and sixteen fast transport ships sailed eastward.

In the conference room of the flagship aircraft carrier Akagi, the senior officers of the 14th Army under the First Air Fleet and the American Front gathered together, looking at the summary of the information they had just received, and everyone's faces were a little solemn, especially Vice Admiral Inoue Narimei, commander of the First Air Fleet.

As an experienced admiral, Inoue Narumi saw at a glance the clues from the so-called "good news" in his hand: Truk Atoll was attacked at night, and the transport ship group assembled there was severely damaged, losing 250,000 tons, and more than a dozen transport ships were damaged and urgently needed repairs. Such heavy losses can never be compensated for by sinking one, damaging two British aircraft carriers, and damaging one British battlecruiser! Otherwise, General Yamamoto Go** and the commander of the Southern Army, General Terauchi Shouichi, would not have proposed to suspend the Australian operation......

Operation Australia is one of the two main components of the "Mi Operation Plan". Now that the Australian war has been abandoned, it means that the "Mi Operation Plan" has already failed halfway. And it's the most important half!

For this "Mi Operation," almost all of Japan's combined fleets were dispatched, domestic material reserves were also exhausted, and almost all air forces were also pulled into battle. But now that the Australian offensive had been cancelled, and the Panama campaign, which had been launched purely to satisfy the demands of the Allies, had to continue, the Japanese officers present were much to the dismay of the Japanese officers present.

But this was again necessary, because most of the resources and technology that Japan needed to sustain the war came from its two allies, China and Germany. If Japan cancels the Panama operation now and transfers the First Air Fleet and the Fourteenth Army to Australia, the Chinese only need to close the valve of the oil pipeline, and the end of the Japanese Empire will not be far off!

Thinking of the gains of the Chinese in these months and the cannon fodder that Japan seemed to be unable to escape, Lieutenant General Inoue Narumi couldn't help but sigh deeply, he put down the documents in his hand, his gloomy eyes scanned the conference room, and took in the expressions of a room of generals, and finally left his eyes on Kengoro Nakasa, the aviation staff officer of the First Air Fleet and the captain of the First Kamikaze Special Attack Group.

This liver is the only person in the entire conference room who looks like usual, and he is probably the officer with the highest enthusiasm for fighting against the United States in the entire fleet! His hatred of the United States seems to be innate. I don't know where those Americans offended this kid?

"What do you think of the appearance of the joint U.S.-French fleet in the Bay of Panama?" Inoue asked about another piece of information she had received not long ago. It was information from the Chinese side transmitted by the Combined Fleet Command, and it mentioned that three French aircraft carriers and an American fleet had appeared in the Bay of Panama.

"Your Excellency Lieutenant General," he replied loudly, standing up, bowing slightly to Inoue, "this is obviously a trap on the part of the Americans, who want to lure our aircraft carriers to bomb the fleet in the Gulf of Panama, and at the same time they will use the aircraft carrier formation in ambush somewhere in the Pacific Ocean to carry out a sneak attack when our fleet is engaged in battle with the fleet in the Gulf of Panama!" ”

"Well," Inoue Narumi said, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, "Liver Fu-kun, do you mean that the United States has determined that Panama is the real target of our attack?" ”

"This ......" Kengoro's body trembled slightly, and he immediately realized that he had slipped his mouth. Instead of panicking, he nodded his head and admitted it. "Yes, Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, I humbly believe that the United States has determined that it is the Panama Canal that the Empire is going to attack."

"How so?" Inoue Narumi stood up and walked to the chart, and beckoned Kengoro Hetofu to come forward and speak. "Liver Fu, come and say."

"Hay!" Kengoro bowed again, and then strode over. And in just a few tens of seconds, Kengoro Liver Fu has already made up a whole set of rhetoric to fool people.

"Your Excellency Lieutenant General, after all, Hawaii is an American colony, and there must be a large number of American spies there, and these spies are not necessarily white, and many Chinese with American nationality may also serve the US intelligence agencies. In addition, the waters off Hawaii are also an area of high U.S. submarine activity. Therefore, this sortie of the Combined Fleet will inevitably be detected by the United States. Moreover, it is easy for the US side to guess that if we want to attack the Americas, because we can only attack in two directions, one is the West Coast of the United States; The second is the Panama Canal Zone. ”

"Roar." Inoue nodded, and then asked, "But how can the Americans know that we are attacking Panama and not the West Coast of the United States?" ”

"Because of time." Liver Fu swept down the well with the corner of his eye, and seeing that his expression was as usual, the stone he was carrying in his heart was finally put down. He sighed softly and explained, "If we were going to attack the West Coast of the United States, it would have been a long time ago. The West Coast of the United States is just over 2,000 nautical miles from Pearl Harbor, while Panama is more than 5,000 nautical miles from Pearl Harbor. So the commander of the U.S. Navy only needs to count the days to know that we are going to Panama. ”

Under normal circumstances, the cruising speed of the naval fleet of this era is at least a dozen knots, and it is not a problem to go 400 nautical miles a day. That is to say, it takes five days to cover 2,000 nautical miles, and 12 or 3 days to 5,000 nautical miles, of course, this is only a straight-line distance.

"Yaxi, Yaxi," Inoue nodded frequently as if she had just woken up from a dream. "Liver Fujun is worthy of being a top student of Haida, a pillar of the Imperial Navy! The consideration was really thorough. Now that you have determined that the combined U.S.-French fleet in the Bay of Panama is a decoy, have you thought of a countermeasure? ”

"It's a little bit of an immature idea." Kengoro Liver Fu breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, but his facial expression became a little more serious. "Since the Americans' move to lure the enemy has already been seen through by our side, why don't you just come up with a plan? Our aim in this campaign is to seize the Panama Canal, or destroy it, and establish a base in the Galapagos Islands. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to destroy 3 American heavy aircraft carriers lurking nearby. He tapped his hand on the map of the Pacific Ocean near Latin America and said, "I guess they should be lying in ambush in this area." And we can just use the bait laid by the Americans, lure them out, and then sink them all with kamikaze! ”

……

If Latin America is America's backyard, then the Panama Canal is the gateway to that backyard. Now the 65-kilometre-long canal is empty at the gate of busy Latin America, and the golden waterway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans is now completely closed. On the Pacific side of the canal, the area around Panama Bay is under the full control of the U.S. military, even though it is not U.S. territory or a U.S. concession.

The port area of Panama City, full of fortifications, forts, machine guns and artillery, and the armed and vigilant United States Army, once again made the real owners of this land feel the threat of war, but this war did not belong to Panama - but two imperialist countries to use their homeland to set up a battlefield, and the Panamanian homeland was probably one of the trophies of this war!

Panama City, U.S. Embassy of Panama.

This is the largest embassy in Panama City, and in fact the real highest authority in Panama. Without the nod of the US ambassador to Panama, the president of this country would not have been able to take office! Now, this luxurious and spacious embassy is home to the Temporary Command of the U.S. Army's 2nd Army.

Commander of the 2nd U.S. Army, Ed Ed. Lieutenant General Fredendo flew from the United States to Panama only 2 days after Christmas last year, and his mission was to defend the Panama Canal and the Republic of Panama from any imperialist aggression! Except, of course, the United States. In order to defend this small Central American country from the aggression of Japanese imperialism, the 2nd Army of the US Army had to occupy the country first! Well, of course, the Panamanian parliament will soon pass a resolution declaring war on Japan.

Who made the Panama Canal Zone too small? If the whole of Panama is not occupied, the US 2nd Army will not be able to open the battlefield at all!

Lieutenant General Fredendor did not feel a trace of guilt about his decision, nor did he have time to think about such inconsequential issues. As the Supreme Commander of U.S. Forces in Panama, he has a lot to worry about right now.

The first thing that gave him a headache was that his US 2nd Army actually didn't have many troops available!

In fact, it's not that the 2nd U.S. Army doesn't have a few people, but that there aren't many that can be used in combat. Before the outbreak of World War II, the U.S. Army was definitely a miniature army, with no more than 180,000 troops. And now the US 2nd Army alone has more than 180,000 people on its books, and the formation of the army includes 10 divisions, including the 1st Armored Division, the 1st Division, the 3rd Division, the 34th Division, the 36th Division, the 45th Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 85th Division, the 88th Division, and the 91st Division! The total strength is close to 200,000. But 170,000 of the 200,000 American boys are still practicing starting and looking forward in the barracks on American soil. At present, there are only one part of the first and third divisions of the United States formed before World War II, which are more than 30,000 people in total! If the Great Fleet in Panama Bay is defeated by the Japanese devils, with such a small number of troops, even if it can hold Panama, it will definitely not be able to protect the backyard of the United States...... How much combat power can those South American countries have? I'm afraid that one Japanese division, uh, one brigade is enough to conquer a country!

In Fredendore's view, if Japan landed on the West Coast of the United States, it would be purely asking for hardship, and it would be better to fight Panama than to fight the West Coast of the United States, but the more than 30,000 young men of the 2nd Army would also make this yellow-skinned monkey suffer a little. But in South America, what Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Guyana...... Wait, including Brazil and Argentina, all of them are vulnerable, and there are hundreds of thousands of Japanese devils who can definitely conquer the entire continent! As long as these Japanese devils defeat the Pacific Fleet again, they don't need to land in Panama at all, and directly land on the South American continent, which is the real weakness of the United States.

"Knock knock......" After a quick knock on the door, Staff Major Henry's somewhat anxious voice rang out. Mr. Lieutenant General, I have just received an urgent telegram from the United States Embassy in Costa Rica. ”

"Come in, come in and talk." Fredendoll furrowed his eyebrows, and a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.

……

Night, March 1, 1939.

Eastern Pacific Ocean, 80 nautical miles south of the Galapagos Islands. Inside the USS Enterprise, the flagship of the U.S.-French task force.

"Lieutenant General, a small force of the Japanese landed on Coco Island, Costa Rica, and a telegram forwarded by the Pacific Fleet Command said that they had landed on Coco Island yesterday morning, and that a Costa Rican infantry company on the island had disarmed without resistance."

Strøance hurriedly pushed open the door, only to find that Lieutenant General Halsey was not resting, but standing in front of a chart and contemplating, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Really? Those Japanese devils have finally set foot on the land of America! Now they are proud, although it is only a small island in Latin America, but it is also the Americas! Halsey took the telegram, glanced at it, and sneered: "Old man, did you say that the Japanese aircraft carrier would be near Coco Island?" ”

"Maybe." Struance smiled and said, "The behavior of the Japanese is a bit abnormal, lieutenant general, don't you think?" ”

"Abnormal?" Halsey seemed to think of something when he heard the word, and he frowned, the Japanese seizure of this small island with no permanent inhabitants was indeed a little incomprehensible. What is the use of occupying this island for Japan? Proof that their army has been to the Americas? For the sake of this, it is somewhat worthwhile to expose the position of the aircraft carrier. Could it be that they wanted to lure out the three French aircraft carriers in the Bay of Panama by occupying Coco Island? Right! It must be like this! The admirals of Little Japan must have thought that the United States had deployed a large number of shore-based aircraft in Panama, so they wanted to keep the battlefield as far away from Panama City as possible.

"Command Jean. Sur's 2nd U.S.-French task force immediately set out to search the waters near Coco Island in search of Japanese aircraft carriers! ”

"Also, we moved immediately and pushed 80 nautical miles north to the waters of the Galapagos Islands to wait for warplanes."

"But Lieutenant General, the Japanese are obviously trying to lure us into attack!" Struance took two steps forward and reminded Halsey's ear: "The Japanese have walked 5,000 nautical miles to fight us, their supply oil will not be able to support us for a few days, we might as well wait patiently, they will soon be unable to resist attacking the fleet in the Bay of Panama, and ...... then."

"Nope! We are 6 aircraft carriers against 4 aircraft carriers of the Japanese! The advantage is on our side. Halsey shook his head sharply, his spirits visibly lifted. He had already studied the naval battle of the Truk Islands on February 14 and 15, and the Japanese kamikaze attack did not bring a devastating blow to the six British motherships, and if the British admiral had been more resolute and had sent carrier-based aircraft to fight back, the loser of that naval battle would have been Japan!

Halsey paused for a moment, and then said: "Japan's national strength is far inferior to that of the United States, and even if both sides lose this war, it will be beneficial to the United States." We can quickly make up for the losses on Japan...... Hmph, I can only beg for handouts from Germany and China! So I'm not afraid of losses, as long as the Japanese dare to come, I will fight them! ”

……

In the early hours of March 2, Coco Island.

The sea off this small island full of tropical rainforests is now a busy scene, with a group of more than a dozen transport ships carrying military supplies in small boats. The only port on the island was already under the control of the Japanese army, and the more than 100 Costa Rican officers and men defending the island surrendered without saying a word when they saw the great military might of the Japanese fleet. At this time, under the supervision of a few fierce devil soldiers, bags of supplies were carried down from the small boat, and one by one they complained in Spanish, but they did not dare to slow down the work in hand, otherwise the Japanese rifle butts would not taste good.

The Japanese officers and men who went to the island were also working, and they had been drifting on the sea for almost a month, and when these officers and men went ashore, they were all seasick and dizzy, and their legs and feet were weak when they first came ashore. However, after resting for a while, drinking cold water from the Americas, and nibbling on a few cold rice balls that were a little moldy, I started working like crazy, and no one rested all night. The infantry of the two wings had already gone ashore, and a lot of supplies had been transported, and the commander of the 14th Army, Yamashita Fumi, and the commander of the 102nd Division, Ishihara Waner, had also gone ashore and were personally commanding the landing.

At the end of the night, Yamashita and Ishihara were red eyes, but their spirits were very excited, and the two of them sat on top of a pile of wooden boxes, pointing at the hapless Costa Rican soldiers, where they were talking.

"Look at where those Costa Rican soldiers have a little bit of a military look, listen to the reports of the people below, they were also happy when they surrendered! Where is there such a soldier! ”

"Alas! The descendants of the Spaniards have long been decayed, where is there any fighting spirit? ”

"But it is a pity that they occupy the most fertile land, and that an entire continent is ruled by these descendants of Spain, Portugal and Indians. If the Empire can land in South America, with my 102nd Division, a single division can conquer an entire continent! ”

"That's right! Conquer the South American continent! There are all the resources the empire needs! ”

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