Eight Yaksha dive bombers, leaning like gulls, flew through the pale white clouds. When the white fog is getting lighter and lighter, a string of green islands like a fairy tale in heaven appear between the clear water and blue sky. Contrary to the view, there is black smoke over the island, a tall coconut grove is blazing, and along the beach line, you can see a large number of cement triangles, coral rock piles, barbed wire and deer barricades, and a few black anchor mines looming underwater. On the mangrove beach next to the anchor mine, a destroyed and stranded Japanese ad hoc cruiser was covered with sharks on its belly.

Like predatory eagles, the war eagle drew an arc of death, and at an altitude of nearly 800 meters, two long planes took the lead in dropping 500 kilograms of high-explosive bombs. The bomb exploded deep into the two-meter-thick Japanese underground bunker, and finally the wingman dropped six 800-kilogram napalm bombs around the bunker. Amid the raging smoke of the flames, hundreds of Japanese soldiers were covered in flames, howling and screaming in bunkers and coconut groves.

This is the Marshall Islands, which together with the Gilbert Islands in the south, Wake Island, the Mariana Islands, the Ogasawara Islands, the Volcanic Islands, Japan and the Kuril Islands in the north, form a natural dividing line of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll that trembled under the wings just now is the Majuro Atoll, the most populated. After Japan snatched it from Germany in the European War, it imposed a closed administration on it, just like Truk, and built a large number of fortifications as the first line of defense against the United States. However, the Japanese government and navy would not have imagined that it would be the Chinese navy that they thought could rely on the island chain to block the coastal waters before the war.

On the top of the bridge of the destroyer Wumeng Mountain, Yang Tiancheng held a telescope in his hand and quietly looked at the atoll under the black clouds. As the son of the president, although Yang Qiu is not very responsible for his children, he knows better than ordinary military officers about the national strategy implemented by his father. Perhaps it will not be long before a 10,000-mile line of naval defense stretches from here to Kamchatka. Until then. China will once and for all its hegemony in Asia, the Southwest Pacific, and the Indian Ocean, and the US Navy will have to abandon its core interests in the southwest and retreat to Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands. If Rabaul and the Solomon Islands can finally be seized from Japan, then even if Australia falls to the United States, it will not be able to break through this island chain.

After the bombers left, an artillery formation consisting of two French Dunkirk-class battleships and four French heavy cruisers began to rain shells on the atoll, which was less than 10 square kilometers, accompanied by six Yongxing-class destroyers and two fire support ships converted from merchant ships. The latter, in particular, is equipped with 12 32-barreled 130-mm rocket launchers on deck, which can sprinkle 800,000 square meters of anti-personnel fragments in 20 seconds. All the way from Wake Island. I don't know how many Japanese soldiers fell under its powerful firepower and turned into corpses in a daze.

On the far sea to the right of the destroyer, is the main force of the XN23 battle group, consisting of four general-class escort aircraft carriers to form an aircraft carrier strike formation, and the dense black spot next to it that is releasing small boat landing craft is a landing formation composed of 66 transport ships and 24 landing ships from Wake Island. They were loaded with 30,000 landing soldiers and garrison soldiers, 3,100 tanks and trucks, and 130,000 tons of various supplies for the fleet, landing soldiers and more than 10,000 natives of the island to eat for a month and a half.

The XN23 battle group is a newly formed maritime battle group, mainly because the four main aircraft carriers and four heavy cruisers of the XN21 battle group have been relocated to Guam. Preparing to participate in the Ryukyu landing, in order to better manage and differentiate, the Admiralty will leave the warships to carry out the 10th Plan into the XN23 battle group, with Vice Admiral Xiao Nanxuan of the former First Fleet as the commander. The base is temporarily located on Wake Island. In this way, the Navy has three aircraft carrier battle groups in the Pacific Ocean (the other is the DB12 battle group for the Ryukyus and the Northeast Pacific).

The destroyer USS Ummond was supposed to escort the convoy to the Indian Ocean, but upon arrival in Sydney, it happened to encounter a formation of six French warships sent by the Third Fleet. I found out after asking. Since the Third Fleet did not have a major mission for the time being, the Italian navy, the main enemy, was crippled, and the Japanese Fourth Fleet was retreated to the Philippines and could not survive Malacca. Therefore, the Admiralty transferred them back to the Pacific to fight, and the USS Um Umon and the escort fleet were temporarily incorporated into the XN23 battle group. In this way, the XN23 battle group has 4 escort carriers, 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 37 destroyers/frigates and 5 fire support ships, plus submarines and more than 200 combat aircraft deployed on Wake Island and other islands by sea and air, making it the largest aircraft carrier battle group in the South Pacific at present.

As for the transport fleet, it was handed over to the Australian Navy to escort to the Indian Ocean. Compared with the U.S. Navy, the Australian Navy was assigned to the command of the Southwest Pacific Theater Command after the Cairo Agreement, and although most of the main naval forces and land forces went to Europe to participate in the war, there were no Japanese submarine activities from Sydney to the Chagos Islands, so it was still very safe.

After a month of steady encroachment, the XN23 battle group has captured 17 of these islands, including most of the Marshall Islands. The Majuro Atoll in front of you is the last important stronghold where Japanese troops are stationed. Once taken, the fleet could attack further south to the Gilbert Islands, and even to Santa Cruz and the Solomon Islands.

"Captain, do you say that after we take down Majuro, will the United States come to rob it?" The avid photographer set up his camera, approached the shell, aimed it at the shelling formation, and pressed the shutter constantly.

"You played as a family, we have contradictions with the United States, but now we are allies."

"What's wrong with the allies, they just swallow this breath of Guam and Wake Island?"

"Can't you read more books on international relations? Guam and Wake Island were entrusted to the United States by the League of Nations, not territories. Defeated and lost, it was because they themselves had no ability, and now that we have taken it back, then the custody will belong to us. At this time, even if the League of Nations is troubled, in the end, the actual control shall prevail. So the United States can only snort twice, because they can't help it. Thinking of his father's deliberate attempt to let Japan act as a pioneer, Yang Tiancheng clenched the railing: "What's more, they can't take care of the Pacific Ocean now." Yesterday's war report said that the Spanish campaign had begun. Although the Germans lost the lead, they still had the advantage in troops, supplies and logistics, so in the end it was definitely a war of attrition. ”

The Navigator nodded, and as soon as he turned his camera to the battleship Dunkirk, which was firing fiercely, the rumbling of motors rang out from all sides. "Look, the landing has begun." Ten Tien Shan-class tank landing ships, carrying more than 200 landing craft for personnel and vehicles, swept past the destroyer and rushed towards Majuro Atoll.

"Get ready for battle! Guns, increase the observation hand, pay attention to the Japanese fire point. ”

"Be careful! Shelling. ”

As soon as Yang Tiancheng returned to the bridge, the observer shouted. As the landing craft approached, the Japanese artillery on the island opened fire. Although the fire was weak, quite a few shells fell next to the sprinting landing craft. "These Japanese grandsons are really enough to hide, and they haven't died yet! Captain, are we going to get on? The navigator handed the camera to the soldier and walked into the bridge. Seeing that the Japanese artillery had not been blown up, he was also secretly surprised.

"It's not our turn, you see." In Yang Tiancheng's fingers, the two fire support ships once again wielded their might. Rockets burst out of the barrels, creating countless gray trails in the sky in an instant. In less than five minutes, thousands of incendiary rockets were fired, and with the addition of six French battleships, the Japanese fire on the island was quickly suppressed.

When the front landing craft opened the hatch, the first batch of 1,500 commandos, armed with automatic rifles, under the protection of more than 30 Type 37 "Sea Serpent" amphibious tanks and "Otter" amphibious armored vehicles, began to seize the beach under the frantic light and heavy firepower of the Japanese army. Seeing that the Japanese still had the ability to counterattack, the six Yongxing-class destroyers rushed to within a thousand meters and used rapid-fire guns to suppress them. Due to the large gap in firepower, many Japanese soldiers eventually jumped out of cover and launched suicidal charges in an attempt to save the day, but they were quickly killed by various heavy machine guns and rapid-fire guns on the destroyers and landing craft.

With the successful beaching of 10 Tianshan-class tank landing ships, the last hope of the Japanese army was completely shattered. More than 100 amphibious tanks and armored vehicles rushed out of the ship's hold, and with the support of the landing ship's own guns, they continued to advance into the depths with a long fire dragon. "It seems hopeless again." The navigator and the officers sighed in disappointment, and regretted that they had not had a chance to fire. Just when everyone was discouraged, the communications officer suddenly took the phone and shouted excitedly: "Captain! Commander Xiao Nanxuan said, let us immediately set off with the Nanning and Kunming heavy cruises. ”

"Isn't it almost up front, do you want us to go up and do it?" Yang Tiancheng was stunned.

"It's not to support the army, it's the submarine that found the Japanese battleship Haruna and three heavy cruisers in the Solomon Islands, they are running in the direction of Tuvalu, the Ninghai and Dinghai have rushed to intercept, and the commander asked us to protect the heavy patrol and go to help."

"Great! Get the engine room ready and tell me how much oil you can store. Navigation, closer to heavy patrols. Yang Tiancheng squeezed his fist fiercely. The battleship formation of the Haruna, which had been left southwest by the Japanese Navy, retreated to Rabaul when the XN21 battle group attacked Wake Island. However, as the signs of the Ryukyu landing became more and more obvious, the Japanese navy, which was eager to draw all the main forces back to the decisive battle, finally couldn't bear it.

Ten minutes later, the destroyer Wumengshan, which had only been around for a month, together with five other sister ships, protected the Nanning and Kunming heavy cruisers (Xi'an-class) from the formation and quickly headed east.

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ps: My daughter has a final exam this week, so Hippo has to help her review in the evening, so the update is a little less. I hope you will forgive me and will make up for it as soon as possible...... (To be continued......)