Objectively speaking, it is indeed reasonable for the Navy to accept what it likes, after all, it cannot be expected that two aircraft carriers and one light mother can fight against shore-based air forces and the Saratoga, which are twice as numerous as their own.

However, this means that the ground forces that have landed on Kauai will be isolated.

"Don't pin all your hopes on others, the Navy said that it will be half a month later, but it will really be half a month later?"

"Zhou is right! Try to do everything on your own! ”

"Disband, and go your own way."

"Obey."

Naturally, Zhou Changfeng could not naively believe in the navy's so-called "'avoidance' for the time being, and come back after a little rest."

No one knows if something will go wrong, and even if the navy subjectively wants to arrive in time, it may be delayed due to various unexpected circumstances.

Therefore, Zhou immediately convened a meeting of officers to clarify the cause and effect, dispel some people's illusions, and remind everyone to prepare for the worst.

In ancient times, out of the need to fight against the Japanese invaders, the Ming Dynasty had rich experience in anti-landing operations, but this was classical and primitive after all.

However, in recent decades, with the vigorous development of the navy and the fact that the strategic goal of the Ming Dynasty was the South Seas, the anti-landing operations did not attract much attention, and only a very small amount of space was given to the lectures of the four major military academies, and the Ming army was mainly pondering how to land rather than resist landing.

Because of this, Zhou Changfeng had to start writing an anti-landing operation program at the beginning of this year to make up for the gap in this regard.

However, due to the continuous fighting, only the draft has been completed so far, and this rough and unpolished thing cannot be put on the table for the time being.

"A typical anti-landing operation should concentrate superior forces, establish a defense-in-depth system with solid support points in the main defensive directions, and carefully organize coordinated operations among various arms and units......

"When the enemy launches an operation, it is necessary to focus on striking at the means of landing, resolutely resist the enemy's beach-rushing landing and landing, and strive to kill and injure a large number of enemy troops at this stage, so as to defeat them on the beachhead as much as possible......

"If the enemy succeeds in occupying the landing ground and continues to advance in depth, its own forces must actively prevent the enemy's expansion, and at the same time seek and seize favorable opportunities to deploy reserves to carry out a resolute counterattack and strive to annihilate it......

In Zhou Changfeng's view, such dogmas of later generations are not perfectly suited to the current environment, and he can only combine his own personal experience and historical examples to write.

Most of these dogmas are based on continental terrain, with ample or at least tens of kilometers of depth, and backed by a vast territory that allows for a steady stream of supplies and reinforcements.

Therefore, it is reasonable to tend to "annihilate the enemy on the beachhead" with a hammer deal, and even if it fails, there will be an endless number of friendly troops coming to reinforce it.

However, the islands are not only limited in depth, but also cut off by the vast sea, making it difficult to recuperate, without supplies and reinforcements.

If one's own naval forces lose the ability to take the initiative, the island will not be able to hold, and sooner or later it will fall, Zhou has already come to such a conclusion.

It is precisely because the offensive and defensive warfare of the Pacific islands is relatively unique that defensive methods should be formulated according to local conditions.

The strategy he identified was defense in depth, passive in battle and active in tactics.

In the campaign, large-scale active attacks should be avoided, and even counterattacks must be limited to small scales, so as to avoid being killed or wounded by the enemy's land, sea, and air firepower and losing too much vital force.

Tactically, in addition to holding positions in a step-by-step manner, it is also necessary to organize a certain number of infantry detachments at the squad and platoon level to take the initiative in ambushes, night attacks, and reverse infiltration.

At all times, everything possible must be done to help the artillery to develop its superiority in firepower in order to kill and wound the enemy's living forces and disrupt the enemy's offensive.

With this as the guiding ideology, the Kauai Ming Army began to build fortifications day and night.

Zhou Changfeng was not idle, and for two days in a row, he drove around from morning to night, personally selecting the position of the position, and then matching troops and firepower for several main support points.

In the past few days, the American forces on the front line of the Carwikini Mountains have been defeated by the steadily advancing Ming army, and more than 500 people have been captured, although there are still about 100 stragglers who have retreated into the mountains to continue the resistance.

During this period, several heavily armed gunboat aircraft played a huge role, quite effectively covering the advance of the ground forces.

In addition to the insignificant guns, the Marine infantry captured one 75mm howitzer each of the M1 and M2 105mm howitzers, as well as hundreds of rounds of two shells.

Although the gun carriage of the 105mm howitzer was broken, the repair shop of the 3rd Marine Brigade was not dry, and successfully used the parts removed from other damaged guns to piece together and repair it.

In Hawaii in May, it's a little hot at noon, but the rest of the day it's just the right amount of warmth.

In the afternoon, Zhou Changfeng and a group of officers came to the coastline east of Kauai Island to inspect the state of the garrison.

With its golden sand and vast blue sea, this environment seems to be a natural tourist destination, but unfortunately it has been contaminated with the flames of war and the smoke of gunpowder.

"Don't stop, keep stirring."

"Go, bring those buckets too."

"Is it tied? Hands and feet are sharp! ”

"Shangguan has arrived!"

"See all the officials, it is expected that the two hundred meters here will be completed tomorrow."

There were a dozen piles of cement piled up on a hill by the woods on the edge of the beach, and the soldiers were stirring in twos and threes with shovels; A little further away, others are tying bamboo.

In anti-landing operations, all kinds of obstacles can be described as unknown, but they can play a considerable role, not only delaying the enemy's offensive preparations, but also hindering the deployment of the enemy's landing force to a greater or lesser extent.

What they are making is a kind of cube cement block, which is a kind of pile type of obstacle, and they nail the wooden planks into a cube mold with one side, place it at the beachhead, and then fill it with cement.

The Ming army seized a lot of materials left behind by the American army, including a large amount of high-grade cement for the military, but the number of steel bars was very small.

The perimeter wind required that the reinforcement be used for the construction of the bunker and the rest of the strong support points, as for these obstacles...... Let's use bamboo instead.

Soldiers cut down local Hawaiian bamboo, tied it into bamboo cages, put it in cube molds, and poured mixed cement.

These cube obstacles are arranged at the beachhead waterline, and there are also some cuboid obstacles that drive deep into the shallow water like stakes, with only the upper end slightly exposed.

Unlike the scenes in film and television dramas, the enemy is killing himself by using these obstacles as cover.

Regardless of the mines and mines placed near the cement blocks and cement piles, even if they were detonated by the heavy artillery preparations, if they dared to hide behind the obstacles, it would not be a few minutes before mortar shells would fall down.

Farther away, several staff officers and soldiers of the brigade's mountain artillery regiment were carrying levels and rangefinders to inspect the beachhead.

Surveying, mapping, calibration, recording...... Each area is individually numbered, after which the respective firing elements are calculated, and the artillery units can fire directly from the recorded data.

"One thousand one hundred and twenty meters...... Almost, it's time to put a battle defense gun here. ”

"I think it's better to go a few dozen steps further north."

Before the beach became a battlefield, it was more like a construction site.

Field? Building site!

Zhou Changfeng stared into the distance, unconsciously distracted, and the picture of US landing craft washing up on the beach appeared in front of his eyes.

Suddenly, a question interrupted his thoughts.

"Zhou Zhizhao, do you think the U.S. military will really fight back?"

"Possibly." Zhou Changfeng raised his head and squinted at the sun, and muttered: "But they don't have much troops in Hawaii, so they really want to counterattack here... Most likely, it is also tentative. ”

"If you send only one regiment, it's no different from an egg hitting a stone." Yu Daixin, commander of the Fourth Marine Brigade, said.

At this moment, there was an urgent shout behind everyone.

"Enemy planes are coming!"

A few seconds later, someone shook the small siren in hand, and the mournful sound of "woo woo" instantly pierced the peaceful atmosphere here.

A communications staff officer said casually: "I just made a bet that I was afraid that I wouldn't come today, but I still have to blow it up again." ”

Subsequently, the generals quickly rushed to several off-road vehicles nearby. The driver had already started the car, and everyone rushed into the dense jungle in the distance.

The soldiers who had built the barriers on the beach also put down their work and ran westward, or jumped directly into the nearest improvised foxhole.

Three minutes later, there was a loud burst of gunfire in the direction of Weiyuan Airport, and the smashed aerial bombs exploded one after another, and a thunderous roar was heard.

16 F4F Wildcats, 11 TBD Ravages, and 6 B-17 Flying Fortresses, US planes routinely bombed the Kauai airfield, maintaining uninterrupted suppression, so that the Ming army would not be able to rush to complete the repair and put it back into service.

"Whew-"

The Wildcat fighter jet that was hit and caught fire let out a strange whistling sound, dragging black smoke down to the northwest.

The pilot was lucky enough to parachute and escape, and a dandelion floated in the air.

The eyes of the officers and soldiers lit up - didn't this credit be delivered to the door by itself? Participating in the capture of enemy pilots, a single 'second meritorious' cannot be run.

Some people are still looking up at the sky, but some people have already quickly turned over and jumped on the sidecar motorcycle, and suddenly rushed to the direction of the parachute......

Similar to Zhou's speculation, the U.S. military is indeed considering a counterattack on Kauai Island.

When it was confirmed that the Ming fleet had withdrawn, the Pacific Fleet command burst into jubilation, with many describing the moment in letters and diaries as "the happiest time in months."

The good news was immediately sent back to Washington, and immediately detonated the long-stored emotions of the people.

Previously, the public, especially the citizens of San Francisco and Los Angeles, were still worried about whether the American military could hold Hawaii.

If it fails, will the West Coast be a target for those Chinese?

Now, it seems that everyone's worries can be put to the back?

On Monday, many stocks on the New York Stock Exchange jumped to open the market, and the Dow Jones began to counterattack after several months of decline, rising from 89.1 points last week to 92.4 points, and then also opened higher.

In today's relatively sluggish atmosphere, the United States really needs a heroic figure who can give confidence to all the military and the people.

Whether or not Chester Nimitz really has the ability to strategize, he must have it now.

While the American people were celebrating, President Franklin also called Chester to applaud him and ask if it was possible to organize a recapture of Kauai as soon as possible.

Chester's reply was yes, but not because it was uncertain whether the Ming fleet would be able to do so in the short term.

The core force defending Oahu is the fully equipped 7th Infantry Division, and the risk of victory is too great if they are all thrown into a counteroffensive.

Unlike the president's inquiry, Army Chief of Staff George Marshall believed that a counteroffensive should be launched immediately and that the enemy should not be allowed to have any strongholds in Hawaii.

The same view was shared by Marshal Mak, who was far away in Melbourne, Australia, who sent three telegrams in one day, strongly recommending that the 7th Infantry Division take advantage of the victory and retake Kauai - "It is quite a shame for any enemy to remain on American territory."

On 29 May, under pressure, Chester reluctantly agreed to begin preparations, but he also made the additional requirement that at least one regiment be sent to Oahu within two weeks.

This request could not be more reasonable, and no one objected.

As a result, George Marshall sent the 501st Airborne Regiment, which was still training at Fort Benning, to Hawaii.

The construction of the US Airborne Forces started relatively late, and until the eve of the declaration of war between Ming and the United States last year, it was not even decided which unit to assign the paratroopers to.

The engineering unit believed that paratroopers needed to undergo systematic and professional blasting training (at that time, the U.S. military felt that paratroopers were used to wreak havoc behind enemy lines); The army aviation believes that since the paratroopers are going to fly, of course they should belong to the aviation; The infantry units felt that paratroopers were also infantry in the final analysis, and who else could they belong to if they didn't belong to them?

Since then, the US military has successively set up several airborne battalions for training, and in March this year, it was expanded into regiments, so that there are five airborne regiments.

The 501st Airborne Regiment has a great history as it is an important part of the 101st Airborne Division. However, now that the airborne regiment has only been established for two months, the airborne division has naturally not yet been seen.

The paratroopers traveled by train from Ohio across most of the United States to Los Angeles and boarded B-17 bombers to Oahu.

In the meantime, the Pacific Fleet, which had been ordered to withdraw to Johnston Atoll earlier in the month, also began to return to Pearl Harbor.

June 1, which was later celebrated by children all over the world, has not yet existed.

Weiyuan Airport is unusable, emergency air supply operations have been partially suspended, and now only large seaplanes can still deliver supplies to the Kauai Ming Army, and the frequency is very low, with an average daily air volume of just over two tons.

In the evening of that day, the Kauai Ming Army lifted a hidden Type 37 single-engine seaplane to reconnoiter Pearl Harbor.

A wary situation came into view, and a large number of warships - destroyers, cruisers, battleships - appeared in Pearl Harbor, which had previously disappeared......

The Pacific Fleet is back!

"Enemy planes! Rushing from the right! Copy the guy and it! The pilot shouted eagerly.

"I'm posting." The rear-seat gunner calmly replied.

In a few moments, a telegram was sent.

"Special circumstances. The enemy's main fleet was visible in Pearl Harbor, with five battleships, four heavy cruisers, and seven or more light cruisers."

(End of chapter)