Take Taobao to fight against Japan

"Australia and Southeast Asia are the lifeblood of the Japanese army. If we can't cut off the overseas supply lines of the Japanese, even if we can bypass these heavily guarded areas and directly attack the Japanese mainland, there is no way to force them to surrender!"

"In any case, as long as the Japanese have a strong enough military force, these brutal invaders will never give in. Only by completely knocking them down can we truly defeat them!"

"So, General Nimitz, let's not bless any illusions. Although I don't want too many American soldiers to die on the battlefield, we really have no choice."

MacArthur still firmly shook his head in denial, taking back Australia and the Philippines is his obsession, and no one can change it.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, they immediately launched an attack on the Philippines.

Due to MacArthur's misjudgment and mishandling, most of the U.S. bombers and fighter jets stationed in the Philippines were destroyed, and the air defense capability was completely lost. In addition, the U.S. and Philippine troops were limited, poorly equipped and lacked training, unable to withstand the Japanese attack. MacArthur almost To commit suicide with the pistol left by his father.

In order to prevent MacArthur from becoming a prisoner, Mr. President and Marshall continuously sent MacArthur electricity, and even ordered MacArthur and his family members to evacuate the Philippines many times in the name of the country, and promised to let him go to Australia to command the Allied counterattack.

Under really irreparable circumstances, MacArthur could only withdraw from the Philippines with tears in his eyes. About 75000 US troops in Bataan and the Philippine army were forced to surrender to the Japanese army.

This is the pain and shame that MacArthur will never get rid of, and now it has become an indelible obsession deep in his heart.

But the current time and space are even more tragic. After arriving in Australia, MacArthur originally thought that he could go through a lot of wretched development before counterattacking the Philippines.

As a result, the Japanese seemed to be cheating, pushing and crushing all the way, firmly controlling the entire Pacific Ocean, and Australia became an isolated and helpless continent.

After more than a year of strong resistance, the Australian defenders were finally defeated by the frantically attacking Japanese army, and were defeated by running out of ammunition and food.

Without waiting for Nimitz to continue arguing, MacArthur said resolutely: "General Nimitz, since the Allied Forces Headquarters has planned two routes in the Central Pacific and the Southwest Pacific, then we really don't have to continue to argue pointlessly." .

Isn't it great that we each perform our duties and use practical actions to achieve our respective strategic goals?Why do we have to be obsessed with which route is the main attack and which route is the secondary attack? "

Chapter 1551 Island Chain Defense

Hearing this, Mr. President smiled and said: "General MacArthur is right. Only when the Japanese Combined Fleet is completely defeated can the United States fully grasp the initiative in the Pacific battlefield and effectively use island-hopping tactics. Otherwise, everything will be a castle in the air. .

Therefore, the most important strategic goal at the current stage is to fight steadily and gradually eliminate the active mobile forces of the Japanese army. "

"Okay! That's all I can do!"

Nimitz sighed softly, knowing that Mr. President, MacArthur and others could not be persuaded at all.

Because in the final analysis, the strategic approach he adheres to is actually quite idealistic.

After all, the Japanese army is not a fool. Once they judge that the main attack direction of the US military is the Central Pacific, then the powerful Japanese combined fleet can deploy troops for reinforcements in a short time.

Moreover, this is not the Hawaiian Islands hanging in the Pacific Ocean. Compared with the Japanese army, the supply line of the US military has been stretched too much, and it has become a very fatal shortcoming.

If the Japanese army's strong mobile force cannot be resolved, not only will it be difficult to smoothly realize the strategic offensive route, but it will also face too many uncertain factors.

"General Nimitz, next, let's discuss the Battle of the Solomon Islands and the Battle of the Marshall Islands, and see who can win first!"

After some debate, MacArthur finally gave Nimitz nothing to say, so he invited Nimitz to participate in the Solomon Islands campaign that was being intensively planned.

Canberra, the capital of Australia, and the headquarters of the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Force.

With the progress and changes of the war situation, the headquarters of the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army has moved forward from Bangkok, Thailand to the Australian mainland.

Just as the Allied forces were sharpening their knives, General Hisashi Terauchi, Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Dispatch Force, Shigemako Aoki, Chief of Staff, General Kogamine, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Ugaki, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, and Yamaguchi, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force Wen and other senior Japanese generals also gathered to discuss the war.

Since Midway Island and the Hawaiian Islands fell one after another, the Japanese military's strategic defense system in the Pacific Ocean relied on a series of three island chains formed by a series of islands to organize a solid defense.

The first island chain from south to north is Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands, Wake Island, Aleutian Islands;

The second island chain is the Australian mainland, the New Guinea Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Sulphur Islands, and the Ogasawara Islands;

The third island chain is the Philippine Islands, Taiwan Island, and the Ryukyu Islands in order, and then connected by the Caroline Islands in the east-west direction, forming a cobweb-like strategic defense posture.

The strategic intention of the Japanese army is to use these islands to consume and exhaust the US fleet, and to dispatch the combined fleet in due course for a decisive battle at sea, forcing the United States to recognize Japan's supremacy in the Western Pacific, and to achieve a decent peace.

After some opening remarks and preliminary discussions, Terauchi Shouichi said to Koga Peak with a serious expression: "Koga-kun, Yamaguchi-kun, the Southern Expedition of the Empire of Japan will definitely do everything they can to defend the Pacific Islands, even if all the jade is broken." Will do whatever it takes.

But what I want to say is that passive defense means being passively attacked. To defend so many islands for a long time, the Imperial Army cannot do without the strong support of the Imperial Navy and Air Force. "

Koga-kun, Yamaguchi-kun, I'm here to please the 120 million imperial warriors of the southern dispatch army! "

"Hai! The Imperial Japanese Air Force will do everything in its power to defend the airspace for the warriors of the Imperial Japanese Empire and shoot down all enemy planes that dare to attack!"

Yamaguchi Tamon nodded emphatically. At this time, no matter whether it is possible or not, he must show determination and courage.

"Please rest assured, Terauchi-kun, the United Fleet of the Empire of Japan is only stronger than before, not weaker. It is fully capable of confronting the US Pacific Fleet. Admiral Yamamoto's legacy will be passed on forever!"

Immediately afterwards, Koga Mineichi nodded confidently.

Back to more than 4 months ago, after the death of Yamamoto 56 was confirmed, the Chief of the Military Command, Fushimi Gong Hiroshi, and the Marine Minister Shigetaro Shimada went to the palace to play the Emperor, discussing countermeasures and the successor personnel of the combined fleet.

In the end, it was decided that in order not to shake people's hearts, the matter should be sealed first, and the code of the "Navy A Incident" should be used internally to deal with this matter.

As for personnel, General Koga Mine, Commander-in-Chief of the Yokosuka tutelary fort, will take over.

According to the "Military Order Implementation Order" of the Japanese Navy, when there is a vacancy for the commander-in-chief of the United Fleet and has not been filled in person, the commander of the Second Fleet will automatically act as the deputy.

During the three days from the wreck of Yamamoto 56 to Kogamine's replacement, Lieutenant General Kondo Nobutake, the commander of the Second Fleet, acted in this position.

After taking office, Koga Mineichi raised the general flag on the battleship Musashi, the flagship of the Hawaii United Fleet, but outsiders thought that the general flag belonged to Admiral Yamamoto 56.

In fact, Yamamoto is also on the ship. To be precise, Yamamoto's coffin is in the chief's office with the new commander in chief.

At that time, what was left to the new chief, Koga Mineichi, was not only a coffin of the former chief, but also an incomplete headquarters.

The headquarters personnel who died at the same time as Yamamoto 56 included Adjutant Fukusaki Noboru, Chief Medical Officer Major General Takata Rokuro, Aviation Staff Officer Hibata Kurio, Communications Staff Officer Imachu Kaoru, and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ugaki Masamune, Controller Major General Kitamura Motoharu. Seriously injured.

It can be said that the United Fleet not only lost its commander, but also only half of the headquarters.

Because of "Secrets are not to be mourned", now Koga can only make do with the use of this half of the headquarters.

On May 5, Koga held a Nanyang combat readiness conference on the flagship, and staff officers from the relevant fleets, battle teams, base areas, and garrison gathered on the flagship of the United Fleet to participate.

The meeting started, and the staff members who attended the meeting felt that the atmosphere was not right. Chief Yamamoto, who was never late, hadn't arrived yet, but General Koga, the chief of the Yokosuka tutelary fortress who might have passed by for inspection, was sitting on the rostrum.

How is this going?Is there a change of chief?Why haven't you heard of it?

All the naval staff officers were puzzled.

However, at this moment, General Koga Mine said slowly but clearly word by word:

"Admiral Yamamoto 56, the commander of the United Fleet, died in a heroic battle on April 18, Showa 4. Now I am personally filling the post of commander of the United Fleet. Please cooperate with me to repay your kindness."

"Nani?"

"General Yamamoto's jade is broken?"

"how can that be?"

"What? Our chief is dead? What shall we do now?"

This light and fluffy sentence stunned all the staff attending the meeting by the bad news. There was a deathly silence, and everyone bit their lips, as if they were desperately trying to control their trembling.

Since "our chief" has died in battle, what other way out do we have besides dying in battle? ", the atmosphere at the venue suddenly became a bit tragic.

Chapter 1552

Looking at the terrified crowd in front of him, Gu Hefeng cleared his throat and continued: "Now I will explain the observation and countermeasures of the United Fleet Command on the current war situation."

Koga Mineichi's words were very soft, and his tone was very neutral, and he didn't show any tendency, but to the staff officers present at this meeting, every word that Chief Koga Shin said was like a hammer Beating the meeting room.

The air in the meeting room was vibrated by the constant beating of the hammer, making people breathless and depressed to the extreme.

Sure enough, as everyone expected, Koga Mine said "I can't spit ivory out of a dog's mouth." This is what he said in the first sentence: "The ratio of the Japanese navy's military strength to that of the United States has already fallen below half."

The next sentence is: "The result of the air battle has led to a large loss of troops in the decisive battle. Now even if the decisive battle of the confrontation fleet we hope can be carried out, our chances of winning are obviously low. It should be less than [-]%."

Koga Fengyi is the No.15 graduate of Haida’s 4th class. If Haida’s "saber team" is like Luda, Koga Fengyi can also be counted as entering the saber team, but Haida's saber team only has the chief and second seats two.

Unlike Yamamoto 56, who used to be a fleet faction, Koga, who served twice as a naval attaché in France, is a consistent treaty faction. He also opposes war with the United States and has a certain popularity in the navy.

Koga has been in the military order system for a long time. He has served as many captains and fleet commanders.

On the contrary, because I have worked as a military building supervisor and supervisor in the naval administration headquarters, and I am familiar with warship construction, I have a certain understanding of young officers who advocate aviation as the main force.

For example, at the end of 1937, when Japan decided to start building the battleship Yamato, the most radical aviation advocate, the deputy chief of the Yokosuka Air Force, Osamu Nishitaki, rushed into the military headquarters to fight with others.

He said to Koga Mineichi, Deputy Chief of the Military Order: "Building Yamato is an anachronism. The money to build a Yamato can build 3000 planes. If you give me 3000 planes, I can sink all the fleets." .”

"Onishi-kun, I am not opposed to aviation, but you must know that the emperor must travel in a carriage with eight horses, and the same is true for a country, which must have battleships."

Facing the runaway Onishi Takijiro, Koga Mine did not reprimand him, but searched for words with great difficulty to persuade him: "We should have what others have. This is called the face of the country, and the face of the navy." Face, do you know?"

Onishi Takijiro was still struggling desperately: "How about a few less horses? We don't need eight horses, but only four horses. A carriage with four horses is quite impressive."

"No, Onishi, this is not something that I, Deputy Chief Koga, can decide."

This dialogue is often cited in reviews of the Yamato as an illustration of the folly of building the Yamato and the enlightenment of Mineichi Koga.

Now, as the commander of the United Fleet, one of the three giants of the navy, for the first time in the 50 years since the Sino-Japanese War, he publicly declared that he has no confidence in the ongoing war.

This is undoubtedly a very fatal blow to the confidence of the naval staff who participated in the meeting.

However, this is not over yet, Gu Hefeng then changed the topic: "Although the odds of winning are low, they are not completely impossible.

If the Marshall Islands or the Solomon Islands, which are strategically and geographically advantageous to me, can engage in a decisive battle with the U.S. military in the early stage, even if it is a broken battle, we still have a chance to achieve the greatest results. "

Although there is still a bit of parallax, in any case, this is the first time that the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy has opened its eyes to see reality.

At that time, Koga Mineichi, who knew that the gap in strength was too great, was pessimistic in his heart, but as the admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, he had to shoulder the burden that he thought had little chance of winning.

To a certain extent, Koga took over a mess and took office, but what is interesting is that there are quite a few Japanese naval officers who don't think it is a mess.

Therefore, when Gu Hefeng took office, he decided that serious illnesses needed to be treated with strong medicine, so that everyone could "throw away illusions and prepare for struggle".

After Koga Mineichi gave the initial instructions, he led the flagship Musashi back to the country. No matter what, the remains of the former chief had to be dealt with. It is not the same thing to work next to a coffin in the chief's office. Koga decided to put the Yamamoto 56 sent back.

At the same time, the main fleet of the Japanese Combined Fleet was also withdrawn from the Hawaiian Islands.

But the actions of the Americans were faster than Koga expected, and the direction was completely different from what Koga expected.

The Americans' action this time is the Aleutian Islands, and the Americans are going to take back the occupied territories.

While Koga was still on the road, the Americans jumped over the Japanese-occupied Kiska Island and launched the first "leapfrog attack" in the Pacific War to the Japanese-occupied Attu Island.

In June 1942, the Japanese occupied Attu and Kiska Islands in the western Aleutian Islands.

In order to strengthen the defense of the Aleutian Islands, the Japanese army reorganized and expanded the North Sea Garrison. The number of Japanese troops stationed on Attu Island increased to 2500, and that on Kiska Island increased to 6000.

After the Battle of Midway Island, in order to recover the Aleutian Islands, the U.S. military first imposed a naval blockade on it to cut off its connection with the Japanese mainland, and then the commander of the Aleutian region, Rear Admiral Kincaid, commanded the recovery of the two islands.

According to the reconnaissance of the U.S. military, the Japanese defense of Attu Island was weak, so they decided to bypass Kiska Island and attack Attu Island first, and at dawn on May 1943, 5, they launched an operation to recover Attu Island.

The battle continued until May 5. With no hope of relief, the last group of Japanese troops carried out the largest suicide attack in the Pacific War.

After fierce, brutal and frequent hand-to-hand combat, the Japanese army was almost killed to the last man. More than 2,300 Japanese soldiers including the commander, Colonel Yamazaki, were killed. In the end, only 28 people were still alive.

Unfortunately, Gu Hefengyi's "Jade Broken" combat words were immediately fulfilled: the defenders of Atu Island were broken.

American casualties were around 550 dead and 1,100 wounded, with an additional 1,800 casualties from typhoid and disease.

In this campaign, the U.S. military used the island-crossing offensive tactic for the first time to recover the Aleutian Islands, eliminated Japan's threat to the North Pacific and Alaska, opened the prelude to a partial counter-offensive, and established a forward base for encircling and attacking the Japanese mainland.

As for Kiska Island, the Japanese defenders persisted until the end of July. In the end, due to the isolation and difficulty of defending, 7 Japanese defenders evacuated under the cover of dense fog.

However, the U.S. military did not notice the retreat of the Japanese army, and still carried out the siege, shelling and bombing of Kiska Island step by step for half a month.

Until August 8, an invasion force of more than 13 ships carrying 100 American and Canadian troops sailed from Kiska.

It was not until August 8 that the Allied forces landed on the island. It was not until 15 Americans were killed in the "friendly fire" incident in the fog that the US military gradually realized that there were no Japanese on the island.

After a lapse of four or five months, everything in the Japanese combined fleet finally returned to normal.

The previously lost carrier-based aircraft fleet has also been replenished, and the fleet has added 3 regular aircraft carriers and 4 escort aircraft carriers, as well as dozens of ships of various types including destroyers, submarines, and supply ships.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Koga Mineichi nodded at Terauchi Shou confidently and said with a smile:

"Please rest assured, Terauchi-kun, the combined fleet of the Imperial Japanese Empire is still the incomparably powerful naval fleet. It will definitely cause the US Pacific Fleet to suffer another devastating blow, and the Imperial Japanese Navy will surely win!"

As the saying goes, "the scar is healed and the pain is forgotten", Koga Mineichi, who feels stronger again, is getting better and better, gradually gaining confidence and confidence, and has the urge to make contributions.

Chapter 1553

"Yoxi! With Koga-kun's words, I feel relieved! As the old Chinese saying goes, brothers fight against each other outside the wall. Now the world war situation is rapidly deteriorating, and the Great Japanese Empire is also facing an unprecedented severe test , we can no longer have too much internal friction."

Hearing this, Temple Shouyi was really relieved a lot.

The navy and the army have always had many conflicts, and they often compete with each other and compete for resources, making it difficult to form a strong joint force.

As a 64-year-old old man, Toshiichi Terauchi's desire to compete for strength is obviously much weaker, so what he values ​​most is not the army or the navy who has made more contributions, but how to do his best to continue the life of the Great Japanese Empire.

"Please rest assured, Mr. Terauchi, we are all fighting for the Great Japanese Empire, and we should work together to protect the vast territory of the Yamato nation!"