Republic of China game

Page 534

……

At this time, it was the early morning of January 1 on the west coast of the United States.

Inside the port of San Diego, the largest naval base on the west coast of the United States, the lights are brightly lit, as if it were daytime.

6艘体型巨大的航空母舰在探照灯的指引下连夜离开了这个太平洋舰队的新家。美国海军和法国海军现在组成了美法特混舰队，这个舰队包括了3艘美国航空母舰、3艘法国航空母舰、3艘新奥尔良级重巡洋舰、6艘布鲁克林级轻巡洋舰、24艘驱逐舰和4艘快速补给舰、4艘快速油轮，舰队旗舰则是美国航空母舰企业号。

Standing in the fleet command center on the second floor of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, watching the brightly lit military port gradually disappear from sight, Halsey looked back: "Is the aircraft carrier of the Japanese devils still in Pearl Harbor?"

"I haven't found them leaving yet." Chief of Staff Struance shook his head: "The Pacific Fleet sent 12 submarines to cruise near Pearl Harbor, and there were no signs of large-scale dispatches of Japanese aircraft carriers, only a few small-scale dispatches , is a formation composed of an aircraft carrier, and it should be training in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands. Lieutenant General, will the information be wrong?"

"No! They must be waiting for supplies and fuel from the mainland. We burned everything when we retreated!"

Halsey said bitterly: "The Japanese have angered us now, and the industrial strength of the United States is exerting its might, so time is on our side. Japan can only choose a quick fix, find our vital points and attack decisively. Panama is obviously This is the key point, its strategic position is too important, once Panama falls into the hands of Japan, our throat will be seized by them!"

"That's true. Most of our shipyards are on the east coast. If there is no Panama Canal, these warships will have to take a long way to go to the Pacific Ocean."

"It's not only about the detour, but also what will the countries in South America think? Will they still regard the United States as the leading force in the Americas?" Halsey walked up to the chart with burning eyes, and said after looking at it for a while : "Raymond (Struance), I have an idea, we can divide the 6 aircraft carriers in our hands into two formations, of which 3 French aircraft carriers form a group, 100 kilometers north of the Galapagos Islands. Cruising in the sea, three US aircraft carriers are lurking in the Galapagos Islands..."

"Sir, do you want to use three French aircraft carriers as bait?"

"That's right," Halsey said with a deep smile, "Although the three French aircraft carriers can't hold a few planes, their protection and anti-aircraft firepower are all top-notch. Did they sink?"

"The French will be willing..."

"They have no choice!" Halsey sneered: "The news from Europe says that by the end of 1938 at the latest, Hitler will be able to control Norway, and it will be France's turn next! So they urgently need the United States now." assistance."

"Hitler is about to take control of Norway! Then the North Sea War..."

"Britain has been defeated!" Halsey's face turned gloomy. Before leaving San Diego, he got some news from Nimitz about the European battlefield: Hitler's navy was dispatched again after more than two months of silence. The target was Narvik, a port in northern Norway, but the British home fleet did not respond in the slightest.Apparently, they suffered more losses in the North Sea battle in November than announced!

"Sir, a report from San Diego." At this moment, the frightened voice of the Fleet Communications Staff Officer suddenly rang. "Last night, the British army in Singapore surrendered to the Chinese!"

"What!?" Halsey roared, and slapped the chart table heavily with his palm. "Is there any specific situation? Don't those British guys always claim that Singapore is the strongest fortress in the world?"

"There is no specific situation. I only know that China used aircraft bombing and heavy artillery bombardment to force Singapore to surrender. The British claimed that the Chinese A4 Thunderhawk dive bomber can carry a 1.8-ton armor-piercing bomb! All Singapore fortresses All of the forts were destroyed by this bomb, and then five "Polish Legion" class armored ships bombarded them with 5mm main guns for more than ten days. The Singapore fortress has been reduced to rubble, and the loss of personnel is as high as more than 280 people So in order to save lives and avoid unnecessary losses, Lieutenant General Parcival had no choice but to order the troops to surrender to the Chinese National Defense Forces."

"A bunch of cowards!" Halsey cursed through gritted teeth. "I didn't expect the honor of the British Empire for hundreds of years to be tarnished by a group of cowards. I hope they will be braver in the face of the bombing of Hitler's air force in the future, otherwise we will have to..." Halsey said Taking a deep breath, he said to Struance, "Please invite French Vice Admiral Jean Sur to come to the Enterprise for a meeting. I want to discuss with him about killing the Japs!"

"Sir," Struance did not convey the order, but approached Halsey and reminded in a low voice: "The six Chinese aircraft carriers...they have captured Singapore now, and the six aircraft carriers Ships can go wherever they want, will the Japanese change their action plan? Maybe they will hand over the South Pacific battlefield to China, and then concentrate 6 aircraft carriers to fight us."

"No! I'm sure the Japs feel as unhappy when they hear the news as I do!" Halsey sneered, "Because the more China takes from us, the more Japan can get." At least, even they themselves will end up as Chinese slaves!"

And at Pearl Harbor at this moment, the atmosphere on the Nagato, the flagship of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, was indeed extremely gloomy.As Halsey expected, the atmosphere on the battleship will be a little bit lower with the news of success from China, and today, even after the scorching sun near the equator hit the battleship , all became a bit cold and damp because of the oppressive atmosphere here.

"Your Excellency, Commander, Tokyo Express." The loud shout of the staff officer rang in the ears of Yamamoto 56. The commander of the joint fleet was looking down at the draft of the "Mi Battle Plan" that had just been drawn up.Hearing the somewhat exasperated roar of the staff officer, he knew it was not good news, and without raising his head, he just said indifferently: "What's the matter?"

"Your Excellency, it is from the Secretary of the Navy."

"Oh, I see, show it to me." When he heard that it was from Eisuke Yamamoto, Yamamoto 56 did not dare to neglect, but he took the telegram and read it before sighing softly, because the telegram said , China refused to hand over South Borneo and Sumatra to Japan (there belonged to the Dutch East Indies and should be attacked by Japan according to the agreement).Therefore, Prime Minister Konoe urgently convened a meeting of the Five Prime Ministers to discuss countermeasures. Although at this meeting, the high-level Japanese army and navy expressed deep indignation at the Chinese's untrustworthy behavior, they did not dare to break with China. .In the end, it was only a decision to attack the rest of Lanyin as soon as possible.Therefore, Eisuke Yamamoto asked the United Fleet in this telegram: whether it is possible to deploy another battleship formation to occupy Mindanao (the territory of the Republic of the Philippines, whose trusteeship has not been handed over to Japan) and Sula while attacking Panama and the South Pacific. Weixi Island (Lanyin territory), if possible, can also consider occupying Java Island as soon as possible... and the army has promised to conquer the above-mentioned areas with a small number of troops, so the transportation problem can also be solved. Now it is just to see what the joint fleet has No more resolve.

"Go and invite Chief of Staff Ugaki and Deputy Chief of Staff Kuroshima." Yamamoto 56 sighed in his heart, got up and left his desk, walked to the nautical chart hanging on the bulkhead of the office and stared.

According to the "Mi Combat Plan", the strength of the joint fleet has now been utilized to the extreme. Eight motherships formed two air fleets; five battleships formed the first fleet; ten heavy cruisers were also divided into two to form the second fleet. 8. The Third Fleet; in addition, there are the Fourth Mine Fleet and the Fifth Mine Fleet composed of light cruisers and destroyers; the Sixth and Seventh Underwater Squadrons composed of submarines... Among them, the First Aviation Fleet is composed of Under the command of Lieutenant General Inoue Chengmei, he attacked Panama and the Galapagos Islands with the cooperation of the Second Fleet, the Fourth Mine Fleet, the Sixth Underwater Squadron, and the Army's 5th and 10nd Divisions.

The Second Air Fleet is commanded by Lieutenant General Nagumo Chuichi. The fleet will attack New Britain and the Solomon Islands with the Third Fleet, the Fifth Mine Fleet, the Seventh Underwater Team, and the Army's 6th Division and 106th Division. .

And Yamamoto 56 himself will personally command the five battleships of the First Fleet, and will be stationed at Truk Atoll around February 2, where he will command the overall situation.And after the Second Air Fleet defeated the British and Australian Fleet, he commanded the First Fleet to cover the landing of the Army's 10th and 5th Divisions on New Guinea.

But now that Lan Yin is going to be added as an attack target, the appetite is really too big this time, right?If there is something good or bad, I am afraid that all previous efforts will be wasted!

"Your Excellency, General! We can reorganize the First Fleet and the Third Fleet, and use two battleships and three heavy cruisers as the main force to form a new third fleet. Use the other two battleships and two heavy cruisers as the main force to form the third fleet." The Eighth Fleet will cover the 10th Division to attack Lanyin. In addition, the Nagato will be used as the main force to form the First Fleet, which will stay on Truk Island to command the overall situation, and will be responsible for supporting the 5th Division to land on New Guinea." Kuroshima Kameto had already learned of the Minister of the Navy's instructions from the staff officer, so when he saw Yamamoto meditating there, he put forward his own suggestion.

"Ugaki-kun, what do you think?" Yamamoto turned around and asked his chief of staff, Ugaki.

"That's the only way to go." Yu Yuantang pondered for a moment, and then said: "We may let the Eighth Fleet take the initiative to confuse the British. If we can attract part of the Australian Fleet to the Lanyin side, Then we may have greater confidence in our southward operations.”

Chapter 0825 Chaos in the Pacific ([-]) Accident

February 1939, 2, South Pacific, Truk Atoll.

Amidst the dull sound of sirens in the distance, there was a tense and busy atmosphere on the wharf in the Truk Lagoon.Trucks are running back and forth between the pier and the warehouses on the four small islands of spring, summer, autumn and bamboo.Boxes of ammunition, food, canned food, compressed biscuits, military uniforms, raincoats, gun parts, fodder, vehicles and horses... All kinds of materials that can be imagined and unexpected are transferred from several ships with Chinese flags hanging on the pier like flowing water. The ships were transported to the well-built and camouflaged warehouses one by one.Then the brigade of North Korean laborers who were so tired that they couldn't even stand still, under the supervision of Japanese soldiers holding rifles and screaming loudly, carried these materials into the warehouse by category.

Next to the warehouse, there were rows of temporary barracks at the entrance, and Japanese army soldiers lined up neatly beyond sight, under the command of the officers, were continuously entering the barracks from the direction of the pier.The air of the entire Truk Atoll is filled with the excitement, tension and anxiety of the coming war.

This is the foundation of the Japanese Empire's foothold in the South Pacific, Truk Atoll.It is the most important anchorage of the Japanese Combined Fleet in the South Pacific and the headquarters of the Japanese Army's Southern Front.Since November last year, all war-related materials stored in factories and warehouses across Japan have been transported here, and at the same time, boats of heavily armed Japanese soldiers have come here from far away lands.Of course, some of them did not arrive smoothly in the end, but were sent into the Pacific Ocean by the British fleet and American submarines to feed the fish!However, most of the Japanese devils arrived smoothly.

In December, after Japan officially joined the "Iron Alliance", China also began to provide supplies for Japan's southward advance. Ship supplies went to Pearl Harbor and this Truk Atoll.And what arrived with these Chinese-produced military supplies, of course, were Chinese ships and crews.

A sound of kicking leather shoes disrupted the busy rhythm on the pier. Japanese soldiers and North Korean coolies turned their heads and saw a big fat major general wearing the summer military uniform of the Chinese National Defense Forces and a handsome Chinese navy lieutenant colonel walking slowly. Behind them is a group of Chinese National Defense Army navy soldiers wearing sea soul shirts.

"Stand at attention... salute!"

Several small Japanese military officers who supervised the unloading of the cargo knew that these Chinese were specially responsible for transporting military supplies to Japan!Without them, the war machine of the Japanese Empire would be shut down in less than a month.So, even though he was not very convinced, he still shouted the command "Stand at attention, salute".

One of the visitors was Major General Wu Zhong, deputy director of the Shipping Bureau of the Joint Logistics Command of the Chinese National Defense Forces, and the other was Lieutenant Colonel Hu Dingxin, deputy chief of staff of the Naval Transport Command of the National Defense Forces.The two well-known Chinese military officers responded to every officer and soldier of Japan's allies with the most sincere smiles.After dealing with these hypocritical diplomatic etiquette, the eyeballs of the two Chinese officers, one large and one small, began to "scan" over and over again in the lagoon that can accommodate the entire Japanese combined fleet.

And when they found two Japanese battleships being replenished among a bunch of large and small Japanese warships, a trace of imperceptible excitement climbed their brows involuntarily.

"Brother Dingxin, are they... battleships? They are really big!" Fatty Wu pointed to the two giant ships and asked Lieutenant Colonel Hu Dingxin next to him in a low voice.

"Wei Gong (Wu Zhong), those are the Japanese battlecruisers Hiei and Haruna." Hu Dingxin recognized these two Japanese battlecruisers full of British style at first sight. It was the two sister ships that ran aground in the Bohai Bay during the 8 War eight years ago, which also sparked disputes between China, Japan and the Soviet Union.At that time, Hu Dingxin was still a student of the Naval Academy, and he had seen the "King Kong" and "Kirishima" more than once in the newspapers issued by the school and various video materials.

"The two battlecruisers are nothing, but it's a bit unusual for those transport ships to stay here." Hu Dingxin pointed to the densely packed fleet in the lagoon, and said: "It seems that the Japanese will soon It is time to launch a southward attack, otherwise these ships would not stay here, and the Japanese capacity is still very tight now!"

"So, this Truk Atoll is the general logistics base for Japan's southward expedition to Australia?" Wu Zhong frowned and asked again.His real identity is still a senior agent of the Military Intelligence Bureau. Of course, he came to Truk in the name of the director of the Maritime Bureau of the Joint Logistics Command to collect intelligence.In addition, the Military Intelligence Bureau also used the name of the Maritime Bureau to set up an office in Truk Atoll.Put this Japan's most important forward base in the South Pacific under its own strict monitoring.

"It's not just the general logistics base, it's the fundamental place!" Hu Dingxin pointed to the two large docks beside the pier and said, "Of all the islands in the South Pacific, only Truk Atoll has facilities that can accommodate aircraft carriers and battleships." Large dock. Warships injured in naval battles can be repaired here as long as they are not severely damaged. This is very important for Japan to compete for sea control in the South Pacific. If there is no dock here, damaged warships can only go back to the mainland for repairs Now, once you come and go, you will have to spend a month on the road, so what kind of battle is there?"

Fatty Wu nodded meaningfully, and muttered in a low voice: "It seems that these little Japanese have been thinking about going south for a day or two. Such a fundamentally important place can't be built in one go... If we can make such a progress The base is fine."

"Okay! This is not something we have considered." Hu Dingxin saw two Japanese assistant officials walking towards him at a fast pace, and hurriedly pulled Wu Chong. "Look, Duke Wei, Xiao Shan and Tian Bian are here."

"Oh, it's these two 'turtle men' again, I don't know if the comfort women will..." Wu Zhong's face flashed a trace of boredom, but in a blink of an eye it changed into a lewd smiling face. Step up to meet.

……

South Pacific, 150 nautical miles north of New Ireland.At this time, a huge fleet is heading north quickly!

2 Prestige-class battlecruisers, 5 Glorious-class aircraft carriers, 1 Ark Royal-class aircraft carrier, 3 Kent-class heavy cruisers, 2 London-class heavy cruisers, 4 Carley-class light cruisers, 5 Southampton-class light cruisers cruisers, and 22 destroyers and 3 fast tankers.

A total of 47 ships sailed on the endless blue sea, dragging billowing smoke that almost covered the sky.Although the scene was so spectacular, everyone in this large fleet, from Commander-in-Chief Cunningham to ordinary sailors, felt uneasy at this moment.At present, all the capital ships of the British Empire Navy that are worthy of the first battle have been concentrated here. Such a navy size is very remarkable for those second- and third-rate powers. As far as the navy is concerned, it is really a bit shabby.

If there is another mistake, it will not be the ships here that will sink, but the entire empire!Thinking of this, every officer and soldier of the Royal Navy can't help but feel heartache and anxiety.

But inside the flagship HMS Ark Royal, Admiral Cunningham was less pessimistic than his officers and sailors.It is also possible that he deliberately hid his worries. At this time, the British admiral was drinking afternoon tea leisurely.It seems that this time is not to go to the Japanese devils to die, but a refreshing trip.

To be honest, he is not particularly confident in his "Night Light" plan to attack Truk at night.However, the current situation could no longer allow him to wait and hesitate any longer.Because the Chinese have seized Singapore, Sumatra, and the Andaman Islands... The passage to India in the west and Australia in the south has basically been cleared!If we wait any longer, maybe the 6 Chinese aircraft carriers will attack Darwin Port.