afterglow

Chapter 599 Chapter : Early counterattack; letter home...is it finished?
Making a feint to the east and attacking in the west? !
Zhou Changfeng quickly analyzed the strategic intentions of the US military based on the known information in his mind.

The documents carried by the American lieutenant colonel who died in an emergency plane landing were probably fake, or perhaps they were done deliberately to cause a misjudgment and concentrate troops to the North Pacific.

Zhou Changfeng roughly guessed the cause and effect, but he still couldn't figure it out - what was the point of launching a counterattack at this juncture? What was the point of seizing a few islands?

The main fleet of the Ming Navy was unscathed. Although it is now concentrated on the expedition to the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific, it can take back the lost islands at any time later.

Seeing that he was lost in deep thought, Lin Xi was worried that he would catch a cold and was afraid of disrupting his thoughts, so he whispered to him, "General, be careful not to catch a cold."

Zhou Changfeng hummed, thought as he walked, and slowly returned to his living room on the second floor, holding the handrail of the stairs.

Xia Xiaoshi also got up with sleepy eyes. She was used to being woken up in the middle of the night like this many times.

She made a cup of tea with the little warm water left in the kettle and asked, "Did something serious happen?"

"What nonsense! The Americans are here to make a feint to the east and attack in the west. It seems they want to take Tarawa back." Zhou Changfeng took a sip of hot tea and pondered, "But why is this? We can take it back in a month at most. There's no need to go to such great lengths."

"Maybe they just want to fight for this little bit of time." Xia Xiaoshi said casually.

"Hiss..." After hearing what his wife said, Zhou Changfeng squinted his eyes and muttered to himself: "I'll try to gain a month..."

He suddenly revealed an expression of sudden enlightenment, raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and said happily: "I think I guessed what they want to do!"

Soon, it was dawn.

Over the next few hours, telegrams arrived from Tarawa and Makin Atolls.

According to the reports they sent, a large US fleet appeared in the waters east of the Gilbert Islands, including no less than two aircraft carriers.

The emperor was very alert to this sudden situation and hastily convened an emergency meeting of military officials to discuss the matter.

"You dare to counterattack Tarawa? You are so arrogant and look down on everyone." Liang Yuexi, the deputy director of the Army Department, clenched his fists.

"We actually fell for the trick of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. The entire Intelligence Department is to blame." Someone couldn't help but complain.

"Now is not the time to pursue responsibility." Lin Xi frowned.

Everyone knew that blaming each other in front of the emperor would not end well, so they briefly skipped over "why it happened" and quickly jumped to "what should we do now."

Dong Jian, who works in the Operations Section of the Navy Department of the Grand Admiral's Office, was a colonel during the Battle of Tarawa two years ago, and has now been promoted to brigadier general.

He said: "The distance between Aleutian and Gilbert is 13,000 miles. It would take the fleet ten days and ten nights to travel day and night. It would also take longer if they had to refuel along the way."

"We still don't know the enemy's deployment at the moment. How many aircraft carriers are there in the north and south?" Lin Xi's tone revealed great confusion. "The Aleutian offensive cannot be abandoned halfway."

"How about sending one or two aircraft carriers to rush south to provide assistance and lift the siege of Tarawa?" Liang Yuexi suggested anxiously.

Dong Jian shook his head and gently refused, "No, sir. That would be a waste of time."

The meeting room in Wuying Palace fell into silence, and everyone felt caught in a dilemma.

There are five airports in the Aleutian Islands, two large and three small. The Ming army needs at least three aircraft carriers to suppress the US land-based aviation.

At the same time, we must also be wary of an unknown number of US aircraft carriers that may be lurking nearby.

Therefore, the troops must not be divided. Even if only one or two aircraft carriers are dispatched to the south to provide support, the Aleutian Expeditionary Fleet will lose its manpower advantage and may be exploited by the US military.

It is the most reliable common sense to concentrate superior forces to fight a war of annihilation.

After a while, Zhou Changfeng said, "In short, we must not let others interfere with our thinking. We must fight as we should. First, we must make sure that we take down the Dutch Harbor (in the Aleutian Islands) and then we can go back and take care of Tarawa."

Liang Yuexi said unwillingly: "If this happens, thousands of soldiers in Tarawa will become abandoned."

"The air force in Nauru will provide full support and this is not considered giving up." Lin Xi said calmly.

Zhu Lingjing, who had been watching silently, said calmly: "We can't lose our composure and change our orders every day. The overall strategy must be firm."

At this time, Zhou Changfeng reminded again: "The fleet can't help, but we can send a few more submarines over there, and it would be good if we can fish in troubled waters and gain some results."

"That's exactly what I meant." Dong Jian nodded in agreement.

The emergency imperial meeting ended.

Because the main force of the Ming Navy fleet was in the Aleutian Islands thousands of miles away, distant water could not quench nearby thirst, and there were no ships available near the Gilbert Islands, so there was no way to rescue.

Now we can only hope that the air force and ground forces can defeat the invading enemy.

Zhou Changfeng explained the essence of the island battle in the Pacific battlefield very early on - the fall of isolated and helpless islands was only a matter of time, and the mobile fleet was the key force.

For this reason, there is no need to stockpile heavy troops except at certain nodes - there are thousands of islands of all sizes in the vast Pacific Ocean, and it is impossible to cover them all.

His views were shared by the vast majority of people.

Under such guidelines, the Ming army only deployed formal defensive forces on a few important islands, and the remaining islands of little strategic value were not strong.

Most islands are only deployed with one defense unit, usually a reinforced infantry unit, equipped with a tank platoon of four light tanks, with a total strength of no more than 200 people. The remaining dozens of people are meteorological, hydrological, navigation, ground crew and other service personnel.

Zhou Changfeng chose a garrison of this size deliberately, because these one or two hundred people can just deal with the commandos sent by the US military via submarines.

It is enough for a small island to "filter out" attacks of this magnitude on its own. After all, a larger-scale landing battle cannot be launched at will.

In comparison, the defensive forces at important strategic nodes are much stronger, often with division-level troops.

As the most critical place in the Gilbert Islands, Tarawa Atoll should be deployed with strong defensive forces.

However, this group of atolls is too narrow to deploy heavy troops.

How big is the largest Betio Island? It is about 3.7 km long from east to west and about 0.5 km wide from north to south, with a total area of ​​only a pitiful 1.18 km. The campus area of ​​some later universities is several times larger than this.

The deployment of defensive forces for Tarawa Atoll was drafted personally by Zhou Changfeng, who put a lot of thought into it.

So far, the Tarawa Defense Command has the following combat units:
In the army, there are three infantry battalions, one engineering battalion, one mountain artillery battalion, one assault artillery team, one tank team, one chemical defense platoon and one military police platoon, totaling about 4,000 people.

On the naval side, there is a coastal defense artillery battalion with about 500 people.

In the air force, there is an anti-aircraft artillery battalion with about 600 people.

This does not include air force and naval service units, as well as indigenous Nanyang laborers, who totaled about one thousand people.

At noon on January 1, several more telegrams came from the front line.

However, this time the message was sent from Hawker Island and Baker Island, two small islands 1100 km east of Tarawa Atoll. The Ming army built an alternate airport, a seaplane dock, and a meteorological observation station on them, with only two or three hundred people.

They claimed to have been attacked by US aircraft and spotted a convoy approaching at high speed.

On the morning of January 1, the two islands reported that a large number of enemies were landing and the defenders were fighting with them.

At noon that day, the Grand Admiralty received a telegram from Baker Island, reporting that the island had lost its ability to resist effectively and that the radio station and communication code files would be destroyed after the telegram was sent; Hawker Island was second, only two hours later. On the same day, the shore-based aviation forces of the Ming army launched from Tarawa Atoll, Makin Atoll, and Nauru Island began to attack the invading enemy.

A total of 262 sorties were carried out on that day, with 35 aircraft lost, 11 US aircraft shot down, 1 destroyer sunk, 4 landing ships and cargo ships sunk, and a number of various ships damaged.

The air raid the next day was even more intense, with a total of 334 sorties, 41 losses, 10 US aircraft shot down, 3 landing ships sunk, and the Saratoga damaged (hit by a torpedo).

The US military also began to attack the Ming army's island airports. This task force code-named TF-44 consisted of four aircraft carriers: Saratoga, Glorious, Essex, and Hornet.

In fact, even the American sailors did not expect the Hornet to be able to participate in the war. On December 12, she was ambushed by a Ming submarine 9 km west of San Francisco and hit by two torpedoes.

Normally it would have taken at least two months to repair, but the San Diego Naval Base worked overtime and violated regulations to repair it to a usable state in just one week.

This is not comparable to the more legendary Yorktown in history - the normal repair period of three months only took three days.

On the bridge of the Saratoga, Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance looked at the battleship Washington on the left and said, "I am still worried that the Chinese will come to reinforce us immediately, and then we will have to retreat."

Major General Richmond Turner beside him smiled and said, "Then the Aleutians are safe."

"Hopefully, the Enterprise and Independence can hold them back."

"The Enterprise is experienced, I think it can be done."

The U.S. military's counterattack operation was code-named Operation Translator and was proposed by Admiral Ernest King.

The fall of Lanai made the situation in Hawaii more urgent, and Washington could no longer sit still.

As one side gains strength, the other loses strength. If the Ming army continues to respond passively and launches another island-taking operation in a few months, the defeat in Hawaii will be irreversible.

They unanimously decided to launch a counterattack six months in advance to disrupt the strategic deployment of the Ming army.

Chester Nimitz himself was calm, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Anyway, several Essex-class ships are about to be put into service, so they can afford to lose now, even if it means losing one or two aircraft carriers to delay the Ming army for a few months.

After careful consideration, he decided to choose Tarawa Atoll as the target for the following reasons:

First, the local airport is of vital importance, and the atoll's lagoon is calm and can be used as an anchorage for the fleet.

【Definition】

Second, retaking this place would restore the second half of the US-Australia route that had been cut off for more than a year.

Third, this would attract the attention of the Ming army and perhaps disrupt their ongoing plans.

Needless to say, the President approved of the idea.

As a result, a series of actions were launched around this idea, such as the carefully planned strategic deception, which made the Ming army command mistakenly believe that the US military would concentrate its forces to defend Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands, successfully luring the tiger away from the mountain.

According to the deployment of Operation Translator, six aircraft carriers were divided into north and south.

The light aircraft carrier USS Independence, which had just been commissioned, lacked experience. She was responsible for accompanying the USS Enterprise in the waters of the Aleutian Islands to bluff and wait for an opportunity to act. If the Ming army sent some aircraft carriers south to provide assistance, then they would immediately cooperate with the shore-based aviation forces to attack the remaining Ming army aircraft carriers.

The remaining aircraft carriers - the Glorious, Saratoga, Essex, and Hornet - headed south together, heading straight for the Gilbert Islands.

Their order of battle is:

TF-44.1 Task Force, including the USS Illustrious and USS Saratoga, 1 light cruiser, 8 destroyers, and 2 oilers.

TF-44.2 Task Force, Essex and Hornet, 1 light cruiser, 7 destroyers, and 2 oilers.

Task Force TF-44.3, battleships North Carolina, Washington, South Dakota, 1 heavy cruiser, 8 destroyers, and 3 oilers.

第1两栖大队，9艘攻击运输船（APA）、6艘攻击货船（AKA）、4艘驱逐舰、2艘医院船，搭载陆战1师。

第3两栖大队，6艘坦克登陆舰（LST）、1艘船坞登陆舰（LSD）、3艘驱逐舰、1艘医院船，搭载陆军第124团级战斗队和第730独立坦克营。

6th Minesweeper Squadron, 3 minesweepers.

This is the second large-scale amphibious operation of the US military since its hasty counterattack on Kauai Island last year, and many new amphibious ships were deployed.

Because there was no complete Hawaii as a forward base in history, the US military built Fanning Island and Christmas Island, 2080 km south of Hawaii, into important bases, and this time they set off from there.

At the same time, Tarawa Atoll...

The sound of the air raid sirens being lifted echoed across the small island of Betio, and the soldiers heaved a sigh of relief and walked out of their shelters and air-raid shelters.

Dust was flying and black smoke was rising into the sky. Yellow shell casings were piled up next to the anti-aircraft artillery positions. Fragments of destroyed American aircraft were floating on the sea, and several parachutes were falling from the air.

An officer called on the soldiers to capture these American pilots, and soon several speedboats started and headed towards the sea.

"We will briefly interrogate the captured enemy pilots and then send them to Nauru..."

Outside the headquarters of the Defense Command, Adjutant Liu He was giving instructions to a lieutenant, and next to him was Commander Shangguan Xun.

The latter smoked one cigarette after another, and soon four or five cigarette butts accumulated under his feet.

He was a taciturn middle-aged man with a mediocre career. Although he graduated from a military academy, he worked in the engineering corps until he was 40 years old before he was barely promoted to major. After that, he voluntarily retired and changed his career to become an architect. His life was quite comfortable.

After the war broke out, he was called up again and resumed active service. His rank rose as the army expanded, which seemed to be a good sign - was his life going to get better?

But who could have expected that this remote and narrow island would become a death place.

Improvement? Actually, it’s the end. It’s better to live a mediocre life.

When he learned that the US fleet was approaching, he knew that this time it was very dangerous - the main force of his own fleet was thousands of miles away on an expedition to the Aleutian Islands and had no time to return to provide assistance.

But here, it only takes a quarter of an hour to drive around the coastline of Betio Island, which is only 18 hectares in area. Bullets fired from the north shore to the south shore are still within the effective range. There is no depth at all and it cannot be defended at all.

Shangguan Xun, with a stern expression, finished smoking another cigarette. He wanted to take another one but found that the cigarette box was empty.

"Report!" A captain came running over and handed over a telegram. "Commander, Nauru called and said that the airstrike they just suffered did not cause much damage. They will fully support us tomorrow."

Shangguan Xun took the telegram expressionlessly, and the staff officer immediately saluted and left.

"Liu He."

"Have!"

"I asked everyone to write a letter home. Have you finished it?" Shangguan Xun, with a serious expression, looked at the sunset in the west where the sky and the sea met.

【Anti-swallowing supplementary image】

(End of this chapter)