Chapter 933: Naval Decisive Battle Plan

As time progressed to August 1937, the atmosphere between the island government and the military became increasingly tense.

The plan to support Kyushu Island failed. Only one-third of the originally scheduled support troops crossed the strait. The remaining troops were either blocked on Honshu Island or had already been buried in the strait.

Of course, such a small problem no longer matters to the island government. If the continuous bombing of Tokyo Bay by the Australasian Navy and Air Force cannot be avoided, the island country will suffer countless casualties and property losses every day.

Even if the island country has a population of tens of millions and an economic scale at the level of a great power, they still cannot guarantee how long they can last in such a large bombing.

Therefore, the island government and the military must fight back and try to solve the bombing threat currently facing the island country.

Compared with the army and the unformed air force, the island government can currently rely on the island navy, which has suffered losses but still has overall strength.

The current island nation's navy still has 7 battleships, 7 aircraft carriers and 3 battlecruisers, 12 heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers, 53 destroyers and 68 submarines. Looking at the world, it is definitely a naval power.

The good news is that since the failed attack on Hawaiian Port, the island nation's navy has been hiding in the ports of Hiroshima and Tokyo. Although this has allowed the Australasian Navy to successfully blockade the island nation's waters, most of the naval strength has been preserved.

Even if 3 battleships and 2 aircraft carriers were lost in the bombing of Hiroshima, the overall loss to the island nation's navy is not a serious injury.

However, the overall size of the island nation's navy will definitely be larger than that of the Australasian Pacific Fleet. But the battle of the navy is not determined by the number of warships, but by the combat level of each warship and a certain amount of luck.

Under the huge pressure from the island government, the island navy quickly formulated a plan for the naval decisive battle, and Yamamoto Isoroku, then the deputy minister of the navy and the minister of the naval aviation department, served as the general person in charge and commander of this plan.

When the island navy attacked the Hawaiian port before, it had already seen the threat of the air force to the navy. In addition, the last bombing of Hiroshima by Australasia made the island navy realize that aircraft carriers sometimes have a restrained relationship with battleships.

In order to better deal with the naval battle with the Australasia Pacific Fleet, Yamamoto Isoroku mobilized a large number of elite forces of the island navy and formed them into a newly formed island joint fleet.

In order to increase the chances of victory in all naval battles, Yamamoto Isoroku not only drew the coastal defense fleets of the island colonies, but also mobilized a large number of small and medium-sized warships, allowing the total tonnage of the island navy to return to about 1.07 million tons.

In the configuration of the commander of the combined fleet, the commander-in-chief Yamamoto Isoroku served as the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet with the rank of lieutenant general.

The commander of the original island fleet was transferred to serve as the chief of staff, and he and Yamamoto Isoroku jointly managed this rather large fleet.

However, the biggest problem at present is that it is difficult for the navy of Hiroshima to gather in Tokyo. There are always a large number of Australasian planes hovering over Hiroshima. If these planes cannot be diverted, the mobilization of the Hiroshima Navy will easily attract the attention of the Australasian Air Force, so that the movements of the entire combined fleet will fall into the eyes of Australasia.

In order to attract attention, Yamamoto Isoroku decided to sacrifice Kyushu Island and the western part of Honshu Island, as well as part of the Army Air Force on Shikoku Island.

Only planes can attract the attention of planes. In order to complete the combat mission of the combined fleet, of course, the Army Air Force can only be sacrificed.

Perhaps only Yamamoto Isoroku himself knows whether he is holding the mentality of avenging personal grudges, but in the face of such a major issue, no matter how unwilling the Army Air Force is, it can only grit its teeth and silently bear everything.

However, this also further intensified the contradiction between the Army and the Navy. If they were just tripping each other up before, then after Yamamoto Isoroku proposed the plan to sacrifice the Army Air Force, the relationship between the two sides became more intriguing.

But Yamamoto Isoroku can't care so much now. If this naval decisive battle fails, let alone the contradictions between the army and navy of the island country, even the island government may not exist.

And Yamamoto Isoroku, the proposer of the naval decisive battle plan, will also become a sinner before the war fails, taking the blame for some senior government officials.

This naval decisive battle can not only determine the fate of the island navy, but also the fate of the island navy's senior officials, including Yamamoto Isoroku himself.

Starting from August 4, 1937, under the organization of Yamamoto Isoroku, the island country's combined fleet launched several large-scale exercises to simulate the deployment of each fleet in the entire naval decisive battle, so as to find and solve problems as soon as possible.

On August 6, 1937, about 400 aircraft belonging to the island country's Army Air Force launched a large-scale attack on the occupied area of ​​​​Australasia on Kyushu Island.

This abnormal phenomenon was quickly reported to the Australasian Air Force Department, and eventually to the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff.

At this time, Australasian Chief of Staff Malone and Defense Minister Thomas were sitting together, discussing how to prevent the island nation's navy from counterattacking at the last minute.

Hearing the island nation's air force's unusual behavior, the two smiled at each other and quickly thought of the first step of the island nation's navy's counterattack at the last minute mentioned earlier, which was to gather all the naval forces.

Since it is a dying counterattack, it must gather most of the main forces of the island nation's navy to pose a sufficient threat to the Australasian fleet.

At present, a considerable part of the island nation's fleet is trapped in the waters of Hiroshima, and these fleets must be rescued to achieve the ultimate goal of the island nation's navy.

If you think about it this way, the island nation's air force's unusual behavior can be explained. A large number of air forces sacrificed for the navy, which is indeed something that those crazy islanders can do.

Of course, the two did not know that all the sacrifices were from the air force of the island nation's army. If you know this information, perhaps the smile in your heart will be even stronger.

The navy and the army are the two most important military forces of a country. Once a very fierce conflict breaks out between the two, it means that the country has a considerable problem from the root.

It is better to expect that the two seemingly harmonious and even mutually hateful military branches can cooperate to win this war, than to expect that Mount Fuji volcano can erupt immediately and force the result of this war to a draw.

After all, Japan will no longer exist after the eruption, and it is naturally impossible to be defeated by Australasian.

"Minister Thomas, what do you think?" Chief of Staff Malone looked at Defense Minister Thomas with a smile on his face and asked with a relaxed expression.

"Let's let the islanders successfully gather these warships according to the planned plan." Thomas also smiled, and didn't even care about the actions behind the island navy: "After all, only by gathering together can we destroy the island's naval power faster. As long as the island's navy no longer exists, this country will no longer be a threat to us."

Malone nodded, and he was quite in agreement with Thomas' words.

Although the current air force of Australasia can completely prevent the convergence of the island's navy. But the problem is that as long as the island's navy has been shrinking in the port, Australasia will also have no way to quickly eliminate the island's navy in a short time.

It has to be admitted that under the background of the island's vigorous development of the navy, their navy still has a certain scale, which can also pose a threat to Australasia's Pacific Fleet.

The island's navy, which is still combat-capable, is like the sword of Damocles. If it is not careful, it will cause huge security risks to the scattered fleet of Australasia.

In this case, it is better to eliminate all the navies of the island country at once, so that the island country can become a docile little sheep, quietly waiting for the arrival of the butcher knife of Australasia.

"Although the island country's navy is unlikely to pose a threat to us, it is still necessary to pay attention to the enemy." Malone said: "Let's do this, withdraw 2 aircraft carriers, 1 battleship and 1 battlecruiser from the Indian Ocean Fleet to ensure that our Pacific Fleet has sufficient strength.

No matter what the islanders want to do, we have enough confidence to accompany them to the end. I believe that our submarines will not let us down, and it is time to let those damn islanders understand what a truly powerful navy is."

Thomas was stunned, then smiled and nodded, and said with some laughter: "You guy, why are you so cautious now?

I remember that in the so-called First World War, you led the 19th Aboriginal Division and we were the first to charge The fastest. "

Mallon smiled and explained: "Isn't this the implementation of the concept of minimizing losses proposed by His Majesty? If we lost many main warships in the naval battle with the islanders, I'm afraid His Majesty would have scolded us.

Besides, we were leading the indigenous division at that time, so there was nothing to worry about. Now it's different. All the elite Australasian troops are under my command. The life of each of them is very precious, and I have to treat them with caution. "

Hearing what Malone said, Thomas's smile was retracted, and his face was also serious and serious: "Yes, it is indeed necessary to be cautious when treating the lives of soldiers. "

Speaking of which, Thomas and Malone, both guys came from the Guards, and successfully became division commanders in World War I.

Although they were only the commanders of the indigenous divisions, the commanders of the divisions in World War I were at least middle and senior military leaders. After more than 20 years of experience after World War I, both of them have climbed to the highest level of the Australasian military.

With the accumulation of experience and the experience of large-scale wars such as the two world wars, the two naturally understand the fragility of life in war.

It is precisely because of this that Arthur's attitude of attaching great importance to the lives of soldiers makes the two admire him.

"Speaking of which, it's time to end the war on the island." After a moment of silence, Malone spoke first.

"What's going on in Europe?" Thomas asked.

As the Minister of Defense, Thomas's daily tasks are very arduous. At present, most of the wars in Europe are handled by the General Staff, and the Ministry of Defense is responsible for the training of domestic recruits and the supply of weapons and equipment.

"We underestimated the combat effectiveness of the German army, and also overestimated the combat effectiveness of the French and Russian armies." Malone shook his head with a wry smile and explained to Thomas: "Can you believe it? The Germans used less than 1 million troops to hold back 3 million French troops. This is crazy.

Now I understand why Paris was broken. The French have completely lost their fighting spirit after the First World War. Their army is not even as good as the colonial army."

Hearing Malone say this, Minister Thomas immediately understood what was happening in Europe.

Currently, the two most important battlefields in Europe are the French battlefield and the Russian battlefield.

Current intelligence has confirmed that Germany has invested at least 2 million troops in the Eastern European battlefield. This also means that the German army in the Western European battlefield is likely to be less than one million.

As for the size of the Allied armies in the Western European battlefield, France alone has more than 3 million troops. Coupled with a large number of British troops, the size of the British and French troops is close to 4 million.

But it happened that these 4 million British and French troops were unable to break through the German army's defense lines.

Not to mention counterattacking the German mainland, even returning to Paris, the capital of France, currently seems very difficult.

In addition, Spain had entered the war, and France had to send a considerable number of troops south to protect the Western-French border.

In this way, the German army can almost easily hold the current front line, creating more time for the Eastern European battlefield.

"Damn it." Thomas touched his beard and felt a headache.

This situation was not expected by Australasia. After all, no one would have thought that three or four times the army would not be able to break through the German army's defense lines.

"It seems that the islanders must be dealt with early. After this naval battle, the island army should be more concentrated to protect their capital Tokyo.

If it is determined that a large number of troops are gathered in Tokyo, then it is time to start our final plan. "After thinking for a moment, Thomas looked at his old partner, Chief of Staff Malone, and said: "

We have been preparing for too long, and it is time for the world to understand that Australasia is the protagonist in this war. "

Malone also nodded, without concealing his radicalism at all, and said with a smile: "I am fed up with the current war. Compared with the European battlefield, the war in the Pacific is simply like playing house.

It's better to deal with the islanders quickly. I'm more eager to fight the Germans. It would be best if I could personally see the strength of the world's largest army. "