Iron Cross

Churchill's face instantly turned pale: He didn't believe the Axis powers were attacking South Africa, but now even the Mozambique Strait was unsafe, which meant that the route on the west coast of the Indian Ocean had become completely unusable.

He pondered for a moment and said: "I will call President Roosevelt and tell him the difficult situation we are facing. If the United States is temporarily unwilling to launch a counterattack in the Indian Ocean, we will first withdraw two aircraft carriers from the Far East. Anyway, their new aircraft carrier Already operational - I can no longer risk the Atlantic west of the Cape turning into an Axis killing field."

When I said this, it was already early morning on Bougainville Island in the North Solomon Sea. The island was full of traces of desperate attacks and defenses. Under the continuous shelling and bombing by the US and Australian coalition forces, the topography of Bougainville had long been destroyed. It has become almost unrecognizable like craters on the moon. The area controlled by the Japanese army has been greatly reduced. Now it relies entirely on tunnel fortifications and natural caves for the final resistance. The number of combat troops has also been reduced from more than 6,000 before the war to less than 1,500. , and a third of them were injured to varying degrees.

"Gentlemen, I would like to inform you of the latest battle situation in the Indian Ocean." An Army Lieutenant Colonel, whose left leg was blown off and could only support himself with his saber, read the message in a howling tone, "I am the first commander of the combined fleet. The guerrilla detachment attacked the British and American fleets a few days ago and sank 2 light aircraft carriers, 2 cruisers, 6 destroyers, and countless transport ships. Two divisions of the devilish British and American army landing forces, totaling more than 30,000 people, were all sunk into the sea by our imperial army. Feeding the fish..."

"Onboard!"

"United Fleet onboard!"

"Axis Alliance onboard!"

The soldiers with ferocious faces and haggard faces seemed to have been given a shot in the arm. Their eyes were full of fanaticism and they cheered immediately.

"Behind us is Rabaul, is Truk, is the absolute defense circle, and is the key hub of the empire in Southeast Asia! Now, the commander orders us to grit our teeth and persevere, fighting to the last soldier, not to be easily broken, we We must stay on Bougainville Island like a nail and wait for the United Fleet to return victoriously... Our sacrifice will be avenged by the United Fleet!" Lieutenant Colonel Yi lowered his head, "Gentlemen, please!"

"Seven lives to serve the country!"

"See you at Kudanzaka!"

The American and Australian officers and soldiers in the distance felt horrified when they heard the howling all over the mountains and fields. They picked up all the weapons they could pick up and started shooting. If the British and American soldiers were reduced to such a situation of running out of ammunition and food, they would have considered it. surrendered, but the stubborn Japanese army still refused to surrender. Not only did they severely humiliate the American officers and soldiers who went in with white flags to persuade them to surrender, but even the Japanese wounded soldiers they rescued on the basis of humanitarian aid did not hesitate to raise the flag after they woke up. The grenades died together, forcing the Allies to abandon any rescue attempt. In the end, the U.S. military could only clear positions one by one and caves one by one, and the progress was very slow.

The U.S. and Australian coalition forces have concluded a pattern and believe that using flamethrowers and fire-breathing tanks is the best weapon to deal with this group of "marmots", but the risk factor is very high. Since landing on Bougainville Island, all the troops have been destroyed by the Iron Fist. There were no fewer than 30 Spitfire tanks, and more than 100 Spitfire soldiers fell to Japanese snipers. Compared with ordinary tanks that have a high probability of escaping when hit by the Iron Fist, as long as the Iron Fist hits the key position of the fire-breathing tank, it will cause an earth-shattering explosion, turning the tank into a ball of fire quickly.

"What are they crazy about?" In order to capture Bougainville as soon as possible, MacArthur did not hide in Australia and command remotely, but directly followed the fleet. If his subordinates had not stopped him from landing on the island, he might still have arrived. Take a look at the island.

"I guess they got some more news - the Japanese are now relying on that false victory to support themselves." Halsey, the commander of the US fleet, was also troubled by this hard nut, but he was even more troubled by the follow-up operations: The day before yesterday In the morning, he received a domestic telegram reporting that the reinforcements were ambushed by the Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean and were annihilated. Both he and MacArthur were so surprised that their eyes widened. In order to retaliate and vent their anger, they desperately increased their offensive efforts. , hoping to capture Bougainville Island as soon as possible. The country also expressed understanding of their situation. When the scheduled reinforcements could not come to the Far East, the Ministry of War gritted its teeth and planned to draw two more divisions from the country.

"Sir, an urgent telegram from China."

Halsey's heart skipped a beat. In the past month, he had been receiving emergency telegrams from China, and it turned out that there was always no good news. He raised his head and glanced at MacArthur, and sure enough, the other person's expression became nervous.

"Three hours ago, the mixed fleet returning south from Kenya encountered an interception by the Japanese navy in Mozambique. Our army lost 2 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier and most other ships, and only damaged 1 enemy aircraft carrier. The British Navy was forced to attack the enemy due to the severe situation. We made a request: either the Pacific Fleet moves to the Indian Ocean to fight; or we withdraw two aircraft carriers to ensure the safety of the Atlantic route. The president agreed to the second plan and ordered us to capture Kabaul before February 15 and then withdraw the two aircraft carriers. British aircraft carrier and 2 King George V class battleships.”

"What? Four warships are going to be taken away? Then who will cover the army?" Before Halsey could speak, MacArthur was the first to jump up.

"The aircraft carrier USS Essex has been commissioned and is scheduled to leave Pearl Harbor on February 15 to join the Pacific Fleet. Then the battleship USS Iowa will probably be commissioned at the same time." Halsey said helplessly, "Actually, there is no need for 2 The deadline is March 15th, and my fleet will return to Australia at the end of January for rest and replenishment—the fleet cannot survive so many days of continuous high-intensity operations.”

"How did the Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean survive? They still have to come back."

"Why do they want to hold on?" Halsey said in a sarcastic tone. "The Germans took Egypt and opened up shipping routes. The Japanese devils only need to go to Alexandria to get supplies. The British left a lot of things. , and it’s all damn American.”

"That's all paid for by American taxpayers!" MacArthur sighed helplessly. "The British are increasingly hoping to become the Italians on our side. They are even more shameless than Italy - they at least provide the navy for the Germans. When they went to fight in Egypt and the Middle East, they at least succeeded in bringing people and supplies ashore. The British took our things and intercepted supplies to aid Russia. In the end, they all benefited the Germans and the Japanese. "

"The situation will only get worse in the future. The Axis powers have cut off the Indian Ocean shipping routes. Everything the British eat, use, and wear must be sent from the colonies. The blocked shipping routes mean they can only reach out to us - they "It will become the biggest blood-sucking insect in the United States." Halsey has a very upright character. He complained, "I don't know how much we have to pay to save them. 10 billion? 20 billion? They say the Wall Street giants control the government." , but why won’t they settle such an obvious debt?”

"With this price, China can be fully armed."

"You are crazy." Halsey looked at MacArthur in disbelief. "The stupid pigs in China will let us land on the coast of China."

"What's wrong, at least they will give us reinforcements." MacArthur fiddled with the pipe in his hand, "Get the reinforcements here first... As for where to land and when to land... well... this is a big issue and needs to be discussed and studied carefully. ”

"Ha..." Halsey instantly understood MacArthur's idea of ​​"reinforcements first" and immediately gave a thumbs up, "Brilliant!"

"However, we can't make this suggestion. We have to find someone else." MacArthur rolled his eyes and thought of a candidate in an instant. "I have to send a telegram to Stilwell and ask him to put pressure on the country."

At the moment when MacArthur and Halsey were complaining that the British had become the captain of the transportation group, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Horikichi, was inspecting and counting the captured materials on Socotra Island, accompanied by a large number of senior officers. Now Socotra Island has become the temporary base of the Combined Fleet in the Indian Ocean. It not only guards the key routes but is also very safe - the surrounding airports that could threaten this place are all controlled by the German army. As for the warships that dare to go to sea to compete with the Combined Fleet, they are It became a pile of scrap metal on the bottom of the sea.

Most of the German and Italian naval officers who arrived at the same time were not interested in the seized supplies - they had seen a lot in Alexandria, and their eyes were all set on the Musashi. Only the German naval commander Richthofen and a few officers Excitedly went to inspect Japanese aircraft carriers and aircraft.

The transport ships that were stranded by the fast column in the Horn of Africa had been towed by Takeo Kurita. The remaining nearly 20 ships could not be rescued, and they could not transport the materials in the cabins. The Japanese could only reluctantly hand them over to the Germans - -Let them send engineers to build artificial docks and prepare for slow rescue. If they can't save it, they can only cut the ship into eight pieces and forcibly demolish it. The extremely shrewd Chief of Staff Kusanogi also hoped to receive half of the supplies after the rescue, but Horikichi stopped this approach and only gave the favor to the Germans.

Hoffman, who returned home after attending Montgomery's funeral, received the news. On the one hand, he instructed the Ministry of Armament to dispatch personnel to do this. On the other hand, considering that Japan had worked extremely hard in the past month and achieved great results, he instructed the domestic An additional 140 aircraft will be sent, and together with the first batch of 60 aircraft delivered, a total of 200 aircraft will be delivered to the joint fleet. This is in the name of a gift and is not on the agreed support list. The staff officer, who had never seen the world, was overjoyed to receive a vote from the United Fleet. He repeatedly expressed that the commander's business experience was very good.

After seeing the supplies on the dozens of transport ships in front of them, including trucks, tanks, artillery, and a large amount of military supplies, these officers were dumbfounded and confused at the beginning, and then they were just looking at them and disapproving.

The last tightly sealed container aroused everyone's interest. Everyone was guessing what was inside. After opening it, they were all stunned, and then burst into laughter together...