The Pacific Fleet is back?

This vital piece of information was quickly handed over to the Ming admirals.

It has been three days since the 180th Special Fleet withdrew to Midway, and hundreds of warships, large and small, have anchored in the atoll.

As soon as the fleet entered the anchorage, the 37th Service Detachment of the Navy stationed here began to be busy, repairing damaged warships from morning to night, day and night, and setting up floodlights to continue working in shifts after dark.

Midway is ultimately just an atoll, lacking a complete set of large-scale machinery. It is enough to be used as an aviation base and a submarine base, but it is difficult to protect all types of ships, and can only provide the most basic maintenance.

Thanks to the fact that the damage of the two Ziweiyuan-class armored aircraft carriers is not serious, otherwise they would have to return to Guam or even return to the mainland.

In order to penetrate the armored flight deck, it is necessary to use armor-piercing aerial bombs, and in order to be strong enough, the armor-piercing aerial bombs have a very thick body and a very low reload factor, so the explosive power is far inferior to ordinary high-explosive aerial bombs, and even if they are penetrated, the damage caused is small.

For example, the Germans' SC series of high-explosive aerial bombs were loaded with 55% explosives; The PD series of armor-piercing aerial bombs is only loaded with 6% of explosives.

This is equivalent to giving the enemy a debuff with reduced lethality, and the survivability advantage of the armored aircraft carrier is reflected.

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In contrast to the half-time champagne of many people, Chester Nimitz remained calm, and he asked seaplanes and submarines to conduct non-stop reconnaissance of Midway Island to grasp the movements of the Ming fleet.

Realizing that the Ming fleet did not seem to want to withdraw to the Mariana Islands, the celebrations of the American forces on Oahu came to an abrupt end.

I thought that after the offensive was frustrated, they would withdraw to Guam, but I didn't expect them to stop at Midway and not leave?

This situation made the Pacific Fleet command quite vigilant and immediately suspended preparations for a counteroffensive on Kauai.

What counteroffensive plans are being prepared for this? At that time, if the Ming fleet is killed halfway through, the consequences are unimaginable.

In a cave at the southern foot of Kawikini Mountain, the Hawaii Expeditionary Force Headquarters is officially "open" for business.

The Metropolitan Governor's Office issued an order to temporarily change the name of the first echelon of the landing force to the Hawaii Expeditionary Force, and the general military office was upgraded from the first echelon headquarters to the same place, and the chief military officer was Zhou Changfeng.

But this is nothing to be happy about, Zhou Changfeng has no waves in his heart, and he is alone in this place thousands of miles away from the mainland, just under the nose of the enemy, I am afraid it will be difficult for anyone to be happy.

This is like in ancient times, the ministry issued an order to let you be promoted to Qiongzhou to be the governor.

“…… Small workshops should be prepared quickly, what is the use of what is at hand, and prepare for a long-term struggle. ”

"Yes."

At today's regular meeting, Zhou Changfeng once again stressed the urgency of a series of preparatory work.

In this environment, it is important to exert subjective initiative, and the three major needs of food, ammunition, and soldiers cannot be obtained at will, but food and ammunition can be used to make a fuss.

Cultivating land was no stranger to the Ming soldiers, who were mostly farmers, and the officers and soldiers selected a number of places around Kazukini Mountain to grow sweet potatoes and cassava, both of which were suitable for cultivation in the subtropics.

Potatoes are more nutritious, but because they prefer colder temperatures, only a few sprouted potato tubers are sown in small quantities in cool valleys.

As for the issue of ammunition, the poor conditions of the Ming Army on Kauai Island do not support the manufacture of any ammunition with technical difficulties, and it is feasible to reload the bullets, but Zhou believes that this is meaningless and does not consider it.

He instructed that some personnel from the repair shop and the officer and soldier battalion of the Third Marine Brigade should be transferred to set up a small workshop of more than 10 people to design and manufacture improvised mines.

During this period, US planes visited Weiyuan Airport every day, and there were inevitably duds among the bombs dropped, and the sappers dismantled their fuses so that the explosives filled in them could be used by us.

An AN-M57 250-pound aerial bomb can dismantle nearly 100 pounds of TNT explosives, which is enough to load dozens of mines.

The sappers used bayonets and daggers to dig out the Ternti poured inside, and the large and small pieces of Ternti were thrown into the small iron pot.

Underneath the small iron pot is a larger, boiling pot of boiling water, so that the pieces of the small iron pot above will melt into a liquid state.

At the same time, the small workshop used the cooling fans of the destroyed US tank engines to make improvised blast furnaces and blowers, and also used gasoline and charcoal as fuel to melt the collected scrap iron into molten iron.

Then they used the sand turning process to make a mold of the mine shell, poured red-hot molten iron into it, and obtained a cast iron shell.

The liquid TNT was then infused with it, making it an improvised mine that could be used as long as the fuse was planted.

The captured M1 76.2mm anti-aircraft guns were like chicken ribs to the Kauai Ming Army, so the repair station dismantled their shells, melted the explosives and reused them, and replaced the mechanical timing fuses with improvised mine fuses.

Since last night, Zhou Changfeng has been thinking about the next battle situation.

The main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet returned to Pearl Harbor, and some ships went to Kahului on Maui and Hiro on the island of Hawaii.

I don't know why, but he suddenly thought that since the navy said that it would come back in a few days, why not try to surprise the US fleet in Hong Kong?

Listening to the radio, you can learn that the continental United States is celebrating the successful repulsion of the Ming army, and maybe they can take advantage of this good opportunity for them to open champagne in the middle and paralyze their carelessness?

Steal...... No, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor!

Ming and the United States have long been at war, so how can it be said that it is a sneak attack?

This should be a serious surprise attack, just like the Royal Navy's surprise attack on Taranto.

He struggled to recall what had happened to the "tiger and tiger", and then wrote down his thoughts.

The telegram was sent on June 3 and was quickly delivered to Soong, and a meeting was held at the fleet admiral's camp at Midway.

"The soldiers are not tired of cheating, let's kill it with a horse pistol, and at the same time fake one shot, and the other shot will poke straight at the point." He Wuxin, the captain of the Yongle, bowed his head thoughtfully and said, "Hmm...... I think there's a play! ”

"The attack fleet that Zhou Kexing said is the next policy, except for Saratoga, the rest of the warships are not worth mentioning." The captain of the Ziwei Youyuan muttered: "If you want to make a surprise attack, the first priority is to destroy the enemy airfield. ”

The generals were intrigued by this surprise attack, and it didn't take long for the discussion to evolve into how to carry it out.

The entire plan of action for the attack on Pearl Harbor in history was planned for a long time, from Takijiro Onishi to Kuroshima Kameto, which lasted several months.

"Most of the fleet could go straight to Hawaii and swagger to attract attention, while one or two aircraft carriers circled the North Pacific Ocean and made a big circle to the north or northeast of Oahu......"

"From this point of view, the surprise attack fleet is fast, and Tianzuo and the Northern Division are not qualified."

"Then only Taizuo can take on this task."

The maximum speed of the Tianshiyuan-class aircraft carrier can only reach 29 knots, and the Beiluoshimen-class light aircraft carrier is slightly faster, reaching 30.2 knots.

In comparison, the Taiweiyuan class, which was rebuilt from the battle cruisers, was much faster.

With a slender hull and powerful engines, she can reach a top speed of 32 knots, and can exceed 33 knots in a short period of time. Moreover, the carrying capacity is also large, and a total of 90 carrier-based aircraft can be installed.

"There's a big problem, though." He Wuxin suddenly asked: "How to solve the problem of refueling on the way?" How many tankers are you going to equip with? ”

"There are only a few high-speed oil tankers, and I'm afraid I can only allocate one out."

"One is not enough, Taizuo must be accompanied by at least six or seven destroyers."

"Uh...... This is not difficult to do, the low-speed oil tanker departs early, and when the time comes, it is good to refuel once at the meeting point in the north, and then have a fast (oil tanker) follow the surprise fleet. ”

"The specific charter should be drafted as soon as possible." Song Zhongkai knocked on the wooden table and said lightly: "It's time for the fleet to leave one after another, go in batches, go to the southwest first, and give a feint." ”

"Admiral, the second formation has not yet run out of food and shells." A major reminded in a whisper.

"Put the posture out first, and resupply...... Deadline before tomorrow night, and you have to leave if you don't make up for it the day after tomorrow. ”

"Yes." The officers present clenched their fists together to receive the order.

The battleships Jianwu, Zhanghe, Kaihuang, Zhenguan, and other battleships were very energetic when they bombarded the shore not long ago and supported the landing force to seize Kauai Island, and most of the shells were consumed.

It's a joy to open fire, but now it's a lot of trouble to replenish the shells!

While the sailors were busy supplying the battleship, the staff officers were also diligently drafting the next course of action.

Naval operations are already complicated, and now that we have ushered in the era of aircraft carriers, it is necessary to plan aviation operations as a whole, which makes the formulation of combat plans very troublesome.

Staff officers had to work overtime and shift shifts to deal with cumbersome amounts of data, taking into account all sorts of problems, big and small, in order to come up with a well-thought-out plan.

On June 4, they analyzed the intercepted telecommunications of the last five days, and based on the decipherable bits and pieces of words, they speculated that the U.S. military was reinforcing Oahu, which could be a sign of a counterattack on Kauai.

In the early hours of June 5, the Kauai Ming Army released one of the few remaining seaplanes, which arrived near Pearl Harbor at dawn and observed rows of landing craft, about thirty of them.

There are all kinds of indications that the US military may really want to counterattack Kauai Island.

「…… It is generally expected that the enemy may engage in a mixed regiment (regimental combat team) or two regiments, and the headquarters can put up a long-term resistance of two to three months, or take the risk of taking the initiative to attack, and there is a fifty percent certainty that it will be defeated."

Zhou Changfeng is quite confident in defending Kauai Island, after all, the U.S. military has so many troops in Hawaii, and there is no possibility of making progress in the short term by sending thousands of people over.

Of course, if the Ming Navy does not come to relieve the siege, it will be a different matter.

Although Chester Nimitz ordered a moratorium on landing preparations, Washington disagreed, with George Marshall saying that it was always right to make preparations first, regardless of whether a counteroffensive was launched later.

On June 6, the regimental headquarters company of the 501st Airborne Regiment landed steadily on Oahu in B-17 bombers, and follow-up troops also arrived one after another.

On the same day, the PBY Catalina seaplane, which was routinely reconnoitring Midway, sent back key information - the number of Ming fleets in the Midway anchorage had been greatly reduced, and many warships were leaving the port.

This was seen by the Americans as evidence that the Akito had temporarily abandoned the attack on Hawaii, but out of caution, more and farther reconnaissance missions were planned.

Time passed like this, and the land of Kauai was being excavated endlessly, and fortifications were erected from the ground...... Oh no, three feet into the ground.

By the time the U.S. fleet appeared on the sea, the first line of defense planned by Perimeter Wind had been fully covered with log-covered communication trenches, and dozens of bunkers made of steel plates, I-beams, and reinforced concrete, plus a large number of well-sparsely populated minefields, complex barbed wire, and horse rejection.

The second line of defense is about eighty percent complete, and the third line of defense is about thirty percent complete.

The 6th Regiment of the 3rd Marine Brigade held the first line of defense, the 5th Regiment complicated the rest of the defensive line and flanks to guard the flanks, and the 7th Regiment of the 4th Marine Brigade served as the general reserve to continue to build unfinished fortifications.

Compared with Zhou Changfeng's calm and relaxed spirit and the chance to win, Zhu Lingjing, who was far away in Yingtianfu, was even more anxious than him.

Zhu Lingjing asked the navy to send a submarine to pick him up, but Zhou Changfeng naturally disagreed-the enemy of the counterattack did not even have an advantage in strength at all, and there was nothing to fear.

At dawn on June 10, the fiery red sun jumped out of the place where the sky and the sea met, and a picture of the sea rising sun appeared in everyone's eyes.

Groups of U.S. military planes flying from various airports on Oahu flew over Kauai and carried out heavy air strikes on the coastline and depth.

The strafing and bombing of more than 100 planes lasted for more than an hour, and often the next wave arrived as soon as the previous wave returned.

Next, the main forces of the Pacific Fleet, led by Raymond Spruance himself, began shelling the island of Kauai, and each battleship prepared for artillery fire according to a pre-divided area.

The scene of the battleship's main guns firing a salvo was extremely spectacular, and shells of various calibers rained down on the land, rolling up smoke and dust that covered the sky and the sun.

The unprecedentedly fierce shelling of the U.S. fleet on the opposite shore caused the island of Kauai, which had been destroyed by the Ming fleet not long ago, to be ravaged by steel and explosives again, and it looked like it had turned into an erupting volcano, shaking the ground and shaking the mountains, and the entire island seemed to sink at any time.

From morning to night, the air raids and fleet shelling did not stop, and most of the beachhead obstacles arranged by the Ming army were destroyed.

At this stage, the US military dropped a total of 224 tons of aerial bombs and fired 3,125 rounds of 127mm shells, 582 rounds of 203mm shells, and 103 rounds of 406mm shells.

The next day, at 8:00 a.m. on June 11, the counterattack on Kauai Island was officially launched, codename: Mississippi Crocodile.

U.S. destroyers were moored two kilometers from the coast, and they were the first row; The second row, farther afield, consisted of light and heavy cruisers.

The eastern beachhead of Kauai was divided by the U.S. military into five zones, each 500 yards (455 meters) wide, which were Red One, Red One, Blue One, Blue Two and Yellow One.

The LCM landing craft were neatly lined up and slowly headed towards the coast, leaving behind a trail like a comb.

"Report! Foresight reported that the enemy landing party was 1,000 meters away from the beachhead! ”

"The enemy landing party is five hundred meters from the beachhead!"

"Zhou waits for the edict! Let's ......" Yu Daixin, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade, clenched his fists nervously.

"Wait."

"The enemy landing party is still a hundred meters from the beachhead!"

Zhou Changfeng, who was calm, stood up from behind the artillery team mirror and said calmly: "Fight." ”

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(End of chapter)