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Chapter 20: The Reddened Islands (I)

December 1, 1945, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

Snow-capped Mt. Fuji, lush Fuji tree seas, dotted with natural hot springs, and the clear Fuji River.

This land, which was called Suruga Province in ancient times and has been designated as Shizuoka Prefecture in modern times, is full of representative scenery that is typical of Japan.

However, at this very moment, this land, which is full of "the strongest Japanese style", is planted with the Star-Spangled Banner of the United States of America.

As the roar of the plane's engine gradually subsided, Douglas, dressed in a crisp military uniform. Field Marshal MacArthur, with a trademark corncob pipe in his mouth, unhurriedly stepped out of the cabin and jumped onto the runway of a field airfield lined with perforated steel plates on the front line in Shizuoka Prefecture.

- The U.S. military actually does not have the rank of marshal, but MacArthur is really a marshal: the marshal of the Republic of the Philippines.

Looking up at Mount Fuji in the distance, which is covered with snow all year round, Marshal MacArthur couldn't help but sigh for a while, and his imagination flowed together.

I remember how depressed and frustrated I was when I had to abandon the troops who were still fighting bloody battles on the Bataan Peninsula and broke through the Japanese fleet blockade line in the dark by torpedo boats, and fled from the Philippines in embarrassment in the face of a mountain of defeat.

Indeed, despite his defeat in the Philippines, he gained unprecedented political fame at home. After all, he was the first to resist the aggressive frenzy of the Japanese, buying time and building up confidence for the United States. As a result, a wave of "MacArthur fever" was set off in the English-speaking world. U.S. Senator Robert . Lovelet Jr. suggested naming June 13 "MacArthur Day" to commemorate the day he was admitted to West Point in 1899. Congress overwhelmingly passed the award of the MacArthur Medal of Honor by an overwhelming majority of 253 votes, a record number not received even by any previous US president.

However, as a proud professional soldier, he prefers to wash away his humiliation on the battlefield. So, shortly after escaping the Philippines, MacArthur held a press conference in Australia and vowed that "I will go back"!

For many days and nights, looking at the island called the Philippines on the map, Marshal MacArthur was haunted by dreams, unable to eat and unable to sleep at night. He believes that since he said "I must go back", he must go back to the Philippines. His success or failure, his honor and disgrace, his rise and fall, are all staked on this oath. Public opinion touted him precisely because he wanted to go back. He is a soldier and must keep his promises.

However, the road back to the Philippines is really long beyond his most pessimistic imagination.

Later, in the Australian battlefield, he led 400,000 troops of the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and in the face of the fierce offensive of the Japanese landing army and the blockade and artillery bombardment of the Japanese navy, he was always defeated and retreated step by step. Retreat from Darwin Port to Brisbane, and then retreat from Brisbane to Sydney, and then, even Sydney and Canberra, the capital of Australia, were lost successively, and they could only retreat to Melbourne in the southeast corner of the Australian continent, where they were trapped in this isolated city for two years. At the most dangerous time, MacArthur and the remnants of his army were defeated, and even Melbourne was almost untenable, almost fleeing to Tasmania, or simply abandoning Australia and retreating to New Zealand.

Fortunately, all this embarrassment, embarrassment and humiliation have passed, and the dawn of victory has appeared in front of the horizon.

Although up to now, Marshal MacArthur has not been able to set foot on the familiar land of the Philippines again as a "revenator", but he has already taken a step ahead of time as a conqueror to land on the Japanese archipelago, the homeland of the enemy, towering Mount Fuji...... It seems to feel even more wonderful!

The only regret to Marshal MacArthur was that Halsey had done most of the work before he set foot on Japanese soil.

-- In a short period of two months, relying on the reckless indiscriminate dropping of incendiary bombs, nerve gas bombs, and atomic bombs along the way, the Halsey fleet on the ocean-going expedition and the B-29 "Super Flying Fortress" bomber unit temporarily assigned to Admiral Halsey have killed at least five million Japanese and turned Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Kobe, and other most prosperous metropolises of the Japanese archipelago into a city full of corpses and bones. Its ultra-high efficiency in slaughtering the Japanese was enough to infuriate Hitler and despise Genghis Khan, fully demonstrating the advanced nature of industrial killing.

kicked the Japanese emperor away, stepped on Mount Fuji with one foot, and destroyed the hateful Japanese devils in one breath, killing their souls!

At this moment, William Jr. Frederick. Admiral Halsey's starlight was so brilliant that it completely overshadowed the light of the other stars.

In this regard, in addition to a hint of jealousy and jealousy, Marshal MacArthur basically expressed his joy to hear it. However, Secretary of State Hull, who had come to Japan on the same plane, did not look very good when he learned of Halsey's great achievement in burning Kyoto.

As soon as he walked to the field tent set up next to the airport and saw General Halsey, who had come to greet him, Secretary of State Hull couldn't help but spray:

“…… General Halsey, first of all, congratulations on the complete victory of the Great Bombing of Kyoto, which burned a thousand-year-old capital with no military industry and few regular troops, and the best-preserved historical and cultural city in the Eastern world, to ashes overnight......"

Facing the arrogant-looking Admiral Halsey, Secretary of State Hull unceremoniously sneered, "...... The efficiency with which you slaughtered Japanese civilians in these two months was enough to put even Hitler to shame! In the past, Hiroshima was the staging area of the Japanese Army, and Kobe was the center of Japan's shipbuilding industry, so there was some reason to bomb them, but what was the purpose of bombing Kyoto? New types of nerve gas bombs were also massively used! Did you use poison gas as a conventional weapon in Japan? Do you know how much trouble this will bring to the White House's next political mission of surrender? ”

Although Mr. Secretary of State spoke so eloquently, Admiral Halsey crossed his arms with a nonchalant expression.

You know, Halsey wasn't intimidated, he came from a family of seafarers whose ancestors ate the wind and drank the waves. His father, William. Colonel Halsey was one of the finest captains in the U.S. Navy at the time. Halsey Sr. had a long list of honorable service records in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean Seas, and completed the round-the-world voyage of the Great White Fleet aboard the USS Kansas (a round-the-world voyage of the U.S. Navy's main fleet in the early twentieth century, named after the hull painted white). ）。 And the little Halsey in front of him also has a deep family background, and was the most famous soldier in the U.S. Navy before the war. He worked on torpedo boats, destroyers, and cruisers, and climbed from warrant officer to admiral. His bravery, fearlessness, and aggressive spirit made him a popular figure in the army, and the sailors affectionately called him "Halsey the Brute." As early as the outbreak of Pearl Harbor, looking at the smoke-filled wreckage of the battleship, Halsey publicly vowed that after the battle, "only in hell can you hear Japanese." ”

Just as MacArthur took a serious vow to return to the Philippines, so did Admiral Halsey's vow.

And now, he can finally fulfill his vow to send hundreds of thousands, millions of Japanese-speaking souls to hell to his heart's content!

Therefore, in response to Secretary Hull's groundless accusations, Halsey said that he was a rough "brute" who did not care about it at all.

“…… Sorry, Your Excellency Secretary of State, I don't think there is anything to blame for my operational command. First of all, I'm not a historian, and I don't have much research on the ancient culture of the East, so I don't think the city of Kyoto has much special value.

Second, the city called Kyoto, which had neither a military industry nor a regular army, was entrenched by a handful of the most fanatical Japanese radical militarists. The military strength of these guys is insignificant, but after taking control of the old capital of Japan, their political influence on Japanese society is not trivial, and if they are not stifled in the first place, there is a danger that they will form a core of resistance.

To this end, our army needs to strike at Kyoto as quickly as possible to show the determination of the United States to fight. However, Kyoto is not close to the sea and cannot carry out amphibious landing operations. Advancing from the ground, and the road is too far away, in this case, what better way than large-scale strategic bombing? Moreover, instead of arousing more hostility from the Japanese, the bombing succeeded in breaking the will of a considerable part of the Japanese to fight. ”

He triumphantly pulled out a stack of telegrams, "...... Within 72 hours of the bombing of Kyoto, the local authorities in Fukushima, Ibaraki, Kochi, Nagano, Shizuoka, Okinawa, Gunma, Saitama, Nara, Wakayama, and Yamanashi prefectures sent public telegrams or emissaries expressing their willingness to accept the leadership of the Japanese Provisional Government and surrender unconditionally to our troops. Together with Miyagi, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yokohama, and Chiba prefectures, which were already under the control of our army, more than a third of the land and population of the whole of Japan have given up resistance. ”

Seeing the stack of surrender telegrams in Halsey's hand, Secretary of State Hull, who originally wanted to make a call, couldn't help but be speechless.

And Marshal MacArthur applauded as if the stage was being demolished, "...... Bang Bang Bang! Dear William, I have to admit that you did a great job! Really, it's amazing! Treat Japanese people with absolutely no politeness, and only with the fear of death can they learn to speak human language! ”

At this awkward moment, another orderly brought coffee and a new telegram. Halsey casually took the telegram and unfolded it, the expression on his face suddenly became more proud: "...... Gentlemen, I have another piece of good news here! Osaka Prefecture, the economic center of the Empire of Japan and the second largest city of 3.5 million people, has now also taken the initiative to open its doors to the armies of the United States......"

Seeing that Halsey's stick policy was so effective, Secretary Hull, who had wanted to persuade Halsey not to blindly abuse brute force, but to be moderately gentle, finally had to choose to shut up, and began to admit in his heart that the Japanese probably did have serious masochistic tendencies, and needed a long barbed whip to talk to them well...... Marshal MacArthur, on the other hand, was already anxious to discuss with Halsey the next battle plan.

“…… Now the biggest problem for our army is the lack of ground forces, Doug. The entire expeditionary fleet with only one 2nd Marine Division and a small number of miscellaneous land forces was already reaching its limit just by bombing the occupied areas of the Kuril Islands, Yokosuka, and Sendai Harbor and maintaining the safe operation of several airfields. ”

Halsey pointed to a map of Japan and said to Marshal MacArthur, "...... This is the main reason why I have to stay in the Shizuoka area and delay the attack on the Japanese troops stationed in Nagoya. Although more than 10,000 former Japanese troops have surrendered to our army under the persuasion of the Japanese provisional government, they can only disarm and guard them for the time being, and they cannot be safely allowed to deal with their former colleagues!

So I'm out of line for now. You can't let sailors and pilots carry rifles and crouch in the trenches to shoot at the Japanese soldiers, right? ”

“…… Don't worry, William, I've brought you 60,000 reinforcements this time! A fully equipped infantry division is the 7th Division that once fought on Attu Island! All are veterans with a lot of experience in warfare! And then there are 40,000 Australian and New Zealand lads who hate the Japs! ”

MacArthur patted his chest and said, "...... In another week, the 1st Marine Division will be rushing here across the entire Pacific Ocean! Six divisions of the West Coast have also been assembled, including an armored division, which is currently being transferred to Hawaii, which is enough to help you kill all the Japanese devils! ”

Before he could finish his sentence, however, an attaché hurried in and handed over a telegram. Marshal MacArthur took the telegram and looked at it, and his face changed dramatically. Halsey asked curiously, and MacArthur didn't seem to be inclined to say it at first, but then confessed.

“…… It's just the dying throes of the Japanese devils! "Despite MacArthur's efforts to use an understatement, the stinking face and the anger in his eyes betrayed his true mood," ...... The Japanese Army Aviation on the Australian front actually dropped a large number of Soman gas bombs on the urban area of Melbourne! Killed at least 200,000 Australian soldiers and civilians! And the Japanese naval aviation on the South Pacific front, which also bombed Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand with Soman gas bombs! Damn, where did these Japs get so many new types of nerve gas? ”

“…… Please don't be sad, Doug, we will soon be able to kill more Japs in Nagoya and avenge them! Halsey reassured.

“…… Okay, but in order to reduce casualties, it is necessary for our army to fully release new poison gases into the city of Nagoya before the general attack, plus a large-scale fire attack with napalm incendiary bombs. In this case, as long as one Seventh Infantry Division is used, it will probably be able to complete the task of attacking the fortification. ”

MacArthur nodded and added, "...... The next words...... Now that Osaka has surrendered, at the same time let 40,000 Anzac troops enter Osaka, insert into the enemy's hinterland, break up the resistance in central Japan, and then launch a clean-up operation against the Japanese diehards entrenched in Hiroshima. ”

“…… My naval fleet will also cover the landing ship group and break into the Seto Inland Sea, preparing to launch a devastating Armageddon against the last remnants of the naval power of the Japanese Empire itself! Halsey chimed in, "...... Just wait for the next batch of new gas bombs to be delivered, and then the operation can begin. ”

“…… Very good! Let's work together! Fight for a definitive end to the war before Christmas! MacArthur smiled excitedly.

Seeing the two generals discussing the next strategic plan in front of him, Secretary Hull could only smile wryly and shake his head, but he hadn't forgotten his mission, "...... Generals, you can discuss the detailed battle plan slowly. But before that, can you arrange for me to meet with the head of the provisional government of Japan and discuss the details of the surrender ceremony of the Japanese Empire? ”

“…… Of course, please come with me, Mr. Secretary! Halsey grinned, "...... That mustache has been waiting for a long time......"

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