Iron Cross

Ps: This chapter contains highly restricted content. It is recommended that readers with poor mental endurance and underage readers not read it. Thank you for your cooperation.

Fear and sadness were followed by strong dissatisfaction. The people of Australia and New Zealand were fully aware of the weakness of their own national defense and the unreliability of the US military. Although the government tried its best to control public emotions, they expressed extreme anger at the inability of the Allied forces to protect them. Coupled with the encounters and losses suffered by the Australian and New Zealand troops in the previous African campaign, it was almost likely to form a wave of protests sweeping the country.

In this wave, the most hated person is naturally Horikichi, there is no doubt about it; the second-ranked person is Nimitz - in the eyes of many people, he is even more hated than Horikichi, because later The enemy is the enemy, and the killing is entirely for legitimate reasons. When the Allies gain the upper hand, they can also go to the RB Islands and do the same. But as the commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, Nimitz actually hid in Pearl Harbor with the main force of the fleet while the Japanese fleet was ravaging Australia and New Zealand, and acted like a coward. Although Horikichi strongly praised his opponent's forbearance, this kind of Isn’t the choice a matter of opinion? This was also the reason why Nimitz decided to fight, otherwise the Pacific Fleet might be kicked out with tomatoes and rotten eggs when it goes to Australia and New Zealand in the future.

The third person on the list of people’s hatred is Churchill. After all, Australia and New Zealand are autonomous territories of the British Empire. The two countries have participated in this war for the benefit of the mother country, but now the British mainland is actually turning a blind eye to this. The people can Regardless of whether the British Empire is now unable to protect itself, it only blames London for being irresponsible, which further aggravates the centrifugal tendency.

After being convinced that the combined fleet had left, the two countries worked hard to repair the wounds of the war while consolidating their defense systems. In addition to requiring the United States to provide more combat aircraft and more shore defense firepower, they also placed orders for warships. Australia and New Zealand were determined to form their own joint alliance. The fleet must build an aircraft carrier combat formation in the region. In order to appease the mood of Australia and New Zealand, President Roosevelt stated on behalf of the US government that after a large number of Essex-class aircraft carriers are put into service at the end of next year, one Essex-class aircraft carrier will be donated to each country, as well as some escort aircraft carriers and destroyers. My mood has improved a lot.

Nimitz's wait at Pearl Harbor was not idle. He was also very busy. The fleet fully replenished supplies and sent the wounded to the hospital. After emergency repairs at the shipyard, the wounds of the warships including the Indiana were urgently repaired, but the hull The damage was easy to repair, and the remaining damaged anti-aircraft guns and auxiliary facilities were easy to replace. However, the damage to the main gun turret was unable to be repaired in a short time. The shipyard technicians faced two main gun turrets with varying degrees of damage. After "gouging out" The No. 2 turret was slightly repaired through a "meal-healing" adjustment, but its firing range was limited to 60 degrees on the left and right.

The person in charge of the shipyard told Nimitz that if he wanted to repair all the turrets, he had to wait for the new domestic turrets to be shipped. In addition, the time for disassembly and replacement would be "don't even think about it for less than three months." But Nimitz would bring it soon. The team is going on the expedition, where can we wait for another 3 months? Moreover, after the North Carolina ran aground, the number of battleships he could use had dropped to 3. Without the Indiana, there would only be 2. The Japanese battleships had at least 5, so he had to bite the bullet and take them out.

"What's happening on the front lines right now?"

"Nothing was found in Tarawa. The aircraft deployed above conduct large-scale searches in the surrounding waters every day. However, the submarine reported the discovery of a group of merchant ships two days ago. However, because there were escort warships, he failed to succeed - the location at that time was South China. "The sea." Halsey looked at the map, "We suspect that this is a Japanese transport fleet that began to disperse after passing through the Strait of Malacca, but the overall target should still be the RB mainland."

"Let the submarines sink them as much as possible, whether it is equipment or industrial equipment, it will significantly enhance the RB's war strength." Nimitz sighed, "Horikoshi is much more ferocious than we thought. He used fierce attacks on Australia. The new method protects the safety of the transport fleet, which is a terrible enemy. "

"The key is that the Army's ability to attack the fleet is really poor." Halsey complained, "At so much cost, it only severely damaged 1-2 aircraft carriers. Even if it sinks one aircraft carrier, it is still good. It is not as good as the battle in Panama." What are the results of Army Aviation’s victory?”

"This is the sequelae of the Panama Battle... General Arnold was frightened by the high losses of the Army Aviation. Now the average experience of pilots has dropped rapidly." Nimitz frowned and said, "Didn't you notice that the pilots on the escort carriers Are all carrier-based aircraft pilots rookies?”

"I just hope they can grow up as soon as possible." Halsey asked to himself, "Now Australia and New Zealand have not reported the Japanese fleet. Where have they gone? Aren't they going back to India?"

"No, the Japanese fleet has suffered a lot of damage. These injuries cannot be repaired in India or Singapore. They can only return to the mainland." Nimitz said, "I have a strong hunch that Horikichi will go to Tarawa. ”

"Tarawa? Where are you going? What are you doing? Collecting corpses for the RB people? You have to go a long time ago, why did it take so long?" Halsey was puzzled by this, "Is he still planning to take it back again?"

"It's possible!" Nimitz said uncertainly. "The Marines reported that Tarawa has been basically cleared. They are currently repairing various facilities and consolidating defensive positions, but I suspect that the Japanese army is not completely wiped out."

"That's great, we can catch him there - if he does go, or..." Halsey looked at the chart and suggested uncertainly, "Intercept?"

Nimitz shook his head: "There is no time. Australia and New Zealand have reported that the Japanese fleet has disengaged, and we still don't know which waterway the enemy is taking. Intercepting is too difficult. Go to the direction of Tarawa and wait."

"But now the combined fleet is still stronger than us, does it really not matter?"

"The Iowa and the West Virginia will arrive soon to support, and the strength of the Pacific Fleet will not be weakened too much." He said to Halsey, "Get ready to go, we will try to fight and then retreat. If the RB people If we are convinced that they won’t come, we will attack the Marshall Islands. It doesn’t have to be occupied. We can also destroy the defense system above.”

Halsey nodded silently: This expedition finally received support from the USS Langley (Independence class). Now the core of the fleet is 3 battleships and 3 fleet carriers (USS Essex, USS Saratoga) and Langley), the total number of available carrier-based aircraft exceeds 213, and 6 escort aircraft carriers are also deployed to protect the transportation and supply formations-which can also be engaged in front-line operations in emergencies. Halsey believed that although he was slightly at a disadvantage, compared to the situation at the Battle of Midway, the strength gap was still within an acceptable range.

He nodded: "I hope we can fight another Battle of Midway near Gilbert, so that we can get peace of mind for at least half a year. Time is really precious to us."

On August 20, the U.S. fleet, which had completed its rest, pulled anchor and set sail, preparing to go to the Gilbert Islands to fight the United Fleet.

No one expected that there were nearly 40 remaining Japanese troops underground in Tarawa at this time. They had exhausted all their supplies and supplies and could only live on one meal a day from the past few days. , even this kind of day seems to be difficult for a few days.

"Sir, it's been more than 40 days, the fleet hasn't arrived yet, the radio is broken, and the food is almost out..." Major Yamada reported to Major General Shibasaki with great difficulty. Now everyone is at the end of their rope, except for officers above the rank of junior officer. Except for Yamada, who was injured in his right hand, and Shibasaki himself, who had been ill, the others were either killed in action or died of various complications after being injured.

"How many days can the food last?"

"If we eat one meal a day, there will be about 3-4 days left." Yamada explained in a weak voice. It took a lot of energy for him not to say a word, "We can't get supplies from the US military anymore. Just dying in vain..."

"Sir, let's fight them..."

"Sir, the combined fleet is not coming. Let's break up together. It's better than living an ignoble existence like this. I also hid two grenades."

"Nonsense!" Shibazaki, who was lying on the ground dying, angrily yelled. "The commander has been sending telegrams asking us to persist, so we must persist. The battlefield is changing rapidly. The United Fleet has just returned from Europe. Maybe something happened along the way? How late are you? It’s a normal day! Besides, our radio station is out of order, who knows what’s going on outside?”

"But without food, everyone will starve to death!"

"Then eat this..."

Everyone was silent after hearing this. What Shibazaki was talking about wasn't food at all. He was pointing to two corpses of American soldiers. These were the lone American soldiers who had worked hard to spot the opportunity a few days ago. Originally, he wanted to get them from them. They got some supplies with them. Unexpectedly, the US military was different from the Japanese army. Apart from cigarettes and some candies, these two soldiers had nothing to eat at all.

But now Shibazaki seemed to have his mind set on human flesh. Although the Japanese soldiers around him were so hungry that their eyes were green, they couldn't help but lower their heads when they heard about eating human flesh.

"Are you afraid? Are you afraid of death? Are you afraid of cannibalism? If we want to survive, we must use all means!" Shibazaki's eyes now don't look like a patient, but as terrifying as a desperate beast, "Since it is the enemy's meat , we can definitely eat it..."

After that, he took the lead. His body was so weak that he could not walk at all. He could only crawl over on his hands and knees. He used a bayonet to cut off a piece of flesh from the thigh of a poor American soldier, and then used the tip of the knife to He took it to the fire to roast it, and listening to the crackling sound, no one dared to look at him. A few minutes later, a pungent and disgusting smell filled the cave. Several soldiers who were really hungry and dizzy imitated the same example. In the end, everyone ate human flesh to a greater or lesser extent. On the ground, there are only dead eyes and bones of American soldiers...