After Admiral Jeffrey Fell was finished, President Roosevelt was on the verge of saying yes or no, and Jeffer Phil continued

"Mr. President, in the morning, I received an urgent telegram from MacArthur that after six days of fierce fighting, the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, including Mindanao, have fallen."

"Our local troops, after being heavily defeated by the Japanese army, retreated to a few key points, and then, after three days of fierce fighting, most of the troops were annihilated, and the rest surrendered to the Japanese on June 5."

"The situation on the island of Java is even worse, the Dutch governor led the Dutch army and the Indonesian army to surrender to the Japanese army on June 3, in fact, we can now control the only island of Luzon, but the Japanese Fourteenth Army attacked very fiercely, and the reason why Manila has not been encircled is the result of the desperate resistance of General Stilwell, chief of staff of the Southeast Asia and South Pacific Regional Headquarters, commanding the 7th Infantry Division in the mountains of Calais."

"According to the report from the front, Ito Yanzaburo, commander-in-chief of the Japanese South Pacific Dispatch Army, transferred the strategic general reserve, the troops of two divisions and three brigades stationed in Singapore, to the Luzon U battlefield, and the Japanese army attacking Luzon Island increased to more than 230,000 people, and the situation on the battlefield will continue to deteriorate, according to which Stilwell will not last long."

"Mr. President, the two Marine Corps divisions in our country that were originally scheduled to reinforce Luzon are in a bitter battle in Hawaii, and if there are no reinforcements, it is also a precarious situation, and the Hawaiian Islands must not fall into the hands of the Japanese, and in the shortest possible time, the troops we have assembled can only be reinforced in one direction, and this does not take into account the problem of the escort fleet."

After Admiral Jeffrey finished speaking, Roosevelt let out a long sigh and said: "Jeffrey Field, I know very well the crisis situation you said, but asking the Chinese Tang Qiuli for help is the last resort, dealing with this Chinese, I am a little emaciated, and now, I have experienced MacArthur's feelings."

Jeffrey Fell couldn't help but ask rhetorically, "Mr. President, why is that?" We have an allied relationship with China, and Tang Qiuli also serves as the second deputy commander of the Allied China and Southeast Asia Theater, whether it is responsibility or in accordance with the provisions of the treaty, he has no reason not to lend a hand, I have received a report that Tang Qiuli has been authorized by the Chinese government to handle the affairs of the South Pacific theater, and it is time for the Chinese to fulfill their obligations."

Roosevelt shook his fork with a wry smile and said, "Jeffrey Field, we didn't go down the spring breeze" Looking at the autumn rain, our biggest mistake was that when the British attacked northern Burma, they failed to prevent this from happening. ”

"Tang Qiuli will not be stupid enough to know what we are doing behind our backs for the British, otherwise, MacArthur's Tiger Shark operation plan will not pin all its hopes on Tang Qiuli's body, and become a laughing stock and our disaster, according to our intelligence agencies, the scattered intelligence collected shows that Tang Qiuli's main force is still on the front line of the East Indies, and it was only six days after the outbreak of the war" His troops did not have time to assemble. ”

"Moreover, in Chinese mainland, except for Manchuria, there is no Japanese army, do the Chinese have a reason to send troops? Even if Tang Qiuli fulfills the obligations of the allies and sends troops to help us, it will take time, and the length of this time depends on how much bargaining chips we come up with" or how much price we pay, and benefits are the only conditions for maintaining the alliance. ”

Admiral Jeffrey Fell was silent, he understood what Mr. President meant: "If the Chinese Tang Qiuli is really sent to the South Pacific theater, then" the United States will have to take out in exchange for Tang Qiuli's bargaining chips for sending troops, and what is the bargaining chip that can impress Tang Qiuli? Admiral Jeffrey Fell was at a loss, he had not dealt with Tang Qiuli, and he had no way to talk about what he knew about him.

Seeing his chief of general staff, who was silent, Roosevelt continued: "There is another crucial issue, that is, whether the strategic focus of our United States is in Europe or in Asia, and in terms of the military power poured in front of us, the European continent is the focus of our United States, and Hitler's Germany wants to dominate Europe, which we cannot tolerate."

"Therefore, the military strength of Europe must not be reduced, and even so, we and the British are facing tremendous pressure from the Germans, and the young people of the United States are fighting in Europe, and the people at home are easily understandable, with the same roots, and there is a homeland complex, while in Asia, there is not only a vast Pacific Ocean, but also psychological cognition."

"Therefore, for the South Pacific theater, we can only take a defensive position, hold on to Luzon Island, as a foothold for our future counteroffensive, and more importantly, as the northern barrier of Australia, the Hawaiian Islands, must not fall into the hands of the Japanese, this is a point that we must be firm in, the Japanese offensive in the South Pacific must be stopped at Midway and the Hawaiian Islands.

"And if we want to do this, we can only rely on our own Americans, at least not at the moment, we pay the price and ask Tang Qiuli for support, I think. Once we get to the point where we have to deal with Tang Qiuli, the price we pay may be difficult for us to accept, this is the reality, okay, Jeffrey Field, according to what I mean, make a corresponding plan"

Admiral Jeffrey Fell nodded and said, "Mr. President, I have come up with a preliminary plan, first, to reinforce the Hawaiian Islands battlefield at any cost with the forces now assembled in the country, second, to transfer back the Third Fleet from Europe and reorganize the Pacific Fleet to protect our maritime security, and third, to provide a full set of weapons and equipment with the British and Australian troops stationed in Australia,

As part of MacArthur's forces, reinforcements were made to the Luzon battlefield, and at the same time, the Australian mainland was used as a base for our American return to the South Pacific. ，…

Roosevelt smiled and put Jeffrey Fell in the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and it seemed that it was the luck of the United States, and he said: "Jeffrey Field, do it according to your plan, as for persuading Churchill to assign the British army in Australia to MacArthur's command, I will do it myself, and you can let go and boldly implement the plan."

At a time when US President Roosevelt and General Jeffrey Field, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were racking their brains in their offices to set the basic strategy for the United States to deal with the Pacific War, Tang Qiuli, who was talked about by two American heavyweights, was not much easier in Rangoon on the Indochina Peninsula than the two bigwigs who were worried about the future and destiny of the United States.

It has been six days since the outbreak of the South Pacific War, but Tang Qiuli still knows very little about the overall situation of each battlefield, and the information sent by the intelligence department every day is fragmented, which is not enough to reflect the whole picture of the battlefield.

Without grasping the progress of the battlefield and the trend of the development of the war, it is impossible to make the most accurate judgment; within a few days, the units directly under the regiment and the Sulu mobile corps that were transferred back to the Indochina Peninsula from the East Indies region have arrived at their designated positions one after another, and the Songhu Garrison Corps, the eight brigades of Jiang Yanming's division, Li Honggang's 29 Corps, Feng Jiwu's Niangziguan Garrison Corps, and Ma Chaoyang's Southeast Mobile Corps have already arrived at their designated positions.

On the front line of the Indochina Peninsula, the troops of the ** Division gathered troops of five and a half corps, with a total strength of more than 1.2 million troops, and in addition, more than 98,000 people from the seven brigades of the Marine Corps of Han Tie were assembled on Hainan Island.

Tang Qiuli was waiting for an opportunity, and this opportunity was that MacArthur's US troops were all wiped out or driven out of the South Pacific islands by the Japanese, and this was the opportunity to send troops, and at that time, no matter whether the Americans asked for support or not, Tang Qiuli would not hesitate to wave his troops and take the South Pacific islands.

Tang Qiuli also thought that it had been six days since the outbreak of the war, and the Americans had uncharacteristically not asked themselves to send troops, which meant that the Americans did not intend to ask for help from themselves, at least not for the time being, that is to say, the Americans believed that with their own strength, they could withstand the fierce attack of the Japanese army, or in other words, they could secure a foothold in a certain important position.

Tang Qiuli was not optimistic about the Americans' obvious intentions, the Pacific Fleet was finished, and the Americans had lost the greatest reliance to protect themselves from the mainland to the theater of operations, and moreover, the Japanese came to Hawaii to dig out their hearts and directly blocked the exit of American reinforcements, even if it was the battle of Hawaii, which ended in the annihilation of the Japanese Seventh Army on the island.

It was a long time, and the point is, will MacArthur make it to that point?

Surely not, in history, without the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands, MacArthur would have been beaten by the Japanese and fled from Luzon and ran to Australia to avoid the limelight, and now, the situation faced by the Americans is many times more dangerous than in history.

Now, the only thing that is unclear is the attack posture of the Japanese army, and the current deployment of the US army, from MacArthur's deployment, Tang Qiuli can judge how determined the Americans are in the South Pacific theater, and adjust the preparation time of the troops accordingly, which requires accurate intelligence support, Tang Qiuli has never been so eager for the news of the various detachments of the Chutian special operations detachment.

In the middle of the night on 6 June, several other detachments sent information one after another that the fighting on Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, and Sulawesi had ended, and that the US army and the Dutch and Indian forces had surrendered to the Japanese army.

The four groups of teams all had news, but there was no information on the battle situation in Luzon and Mindanao, which Tang Qiuli wanted to know the most, and these two directions were led by Chu Tian himself.

To be continued

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