Chapter 1002 The Second Battle of Midway (2)

Almost at the same time, Nimitz led the surviving TF48 formation to quietly leave South Africa and carefully sail towards the edge of the Indian Ocean towards Australia.

Compared with the tragic situation after retreating from the South Atlantic, the TF48 fleet has now recovered a little bit. Not only has the damaged Franklin been repaired to the best of its ability, but the only two remaining escort aircraft carriers have been removed from the South African fleet, and additional supplies have been added. We have acquired 4 auxiliary cruisers, which look like the same thing, but are actually very weak in combat effectiveness.

In addition, Nimitz also took away the USS Wasp, which had been lying in South Africa for several months without being completely repaired. The ship could only reach a maximum speed of 18 knots, and its deck and hangar were almost unusable. This was left over from the TF46 fleet in the last South Atlantic naval battle, and it suffered a lot of damage. Due to the lack of technical strength in South Africa, it has only been repaired to this extent after lying there for a long time. But Nimitz was still grateful. The U.S. Navy had lost most of its aircraft carriers and was extremely eager for such warships that could still be repaired.

After receiving the information that the Japanese main fleet was preparing to attack Midway Island, he had been in a very low mood and deeply regretted the recent battle - the last stage of the decisive attack should not have been carried out, otherwise there would still be many crews left, he said. Maybe two aircraft carriers can be saved. If this is the case, the TF48 fleet will have a lot of room for maneuver. When the main force of the Japanese army moves eastward, it can go to the Indian Ocean to cause chaos.

But there is no regret medicine in the world, and he believes that if he really has so much strength, Horikichi may not easily release him into the Indian Ocean.

Nimitz was right about this. In order to prevent the U.S. military from causing trouble again, Horikichi spent a lot of effort and deployed a lot of aircraft and reconnaissance forces. He also deliberately left the three aviation battles in the Indian Ocean. He could completely block it when necessary. . When the two ships Katsuragi and Aso enter service in October and form the fifth naval war, they will also be considered to be placed on the front line in Nanyang.

Nimitz currently only has one ship, the USS Franklin, which is barely intact. After deploying South African crews and taking away the injured pilots who returned last time (members of the TF46 fleet), he can only manage to collect 88 crews, including one Egyptian ship. The minimum requirements for the Sussex class were not met, let alone arming the Wasp.

However, he knew that there were still crews in Hawaii. As long as he brought the ship to Hawaii for repairs, replenished the aircraft and personnel, and paired it with the two battleships and some escort aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet, it would still be a powerful and potential fleet - at least It is currently the most powerful force in the U.S. Navy.

Therefore, when the country sent him a telegram asking for his opinion on the Battle of Midway, he replied after painful thought: "The Pacific Fleet was hiding near Pearl Harbor to preserve its strength, and only used its army and navy aviation forces to weaken the enemy fleet. If the island cannot be defended, it can be retreated in due course.”

Truman frowned and asked, "General Nimitz thinks we should retreat from Midway?"

"Yes! Before retreating, it is recommended to use aviation force to weaken the Japanese fleet as much as possible." Turner reported, "The Japanese army dispatched the entire main force of the combined fleet, not to mention the insufficient Pacific Fleet, even General Nimitz's fleet is intact now. It was difficult to match. What's more, he had just set off from South Africa and was completely too late. It was a good idea to use aviation to weaken the enemy. He listed the order of targets, oilers first, aircraft carriers second, cargo ships third, and then other warships. ”

Truman was a little confused: "Shouldn't we attack the aircraft carrier first?"

"The aviation force on Midway Island can attack the aircraft carrier first, but if my estimate is correct, after tonight, this airport will be destroyed. The distance between Midway Island and Hawaii is more than 2,000 kilometers, and the bombers can only be B-17 or B-29, and it is In the unescorted state, it is more convenient to attack oil ships than aircraft carriers - our military losses are small and enemy ships are easy to destroy. The combined fleet has such a huge force and consumes 10,000 tons of fuel every day. Once it runs out of oil, no matter how powerful the fleet is, it can only be obedient. retreat."

"Will the enemy attack Hawaii? If so, how should our army respond?"

"Not in the short term. Our military has deployed more than 2,000 aircraft in Hawaii, as well as more than 100,000 ground troops and has reliable defenses. The combined fleet cannot conquer this island with this strength. I even expect the enemy to come. Attack, this will definitely destroy their big teeth, but one thing cannot be ignored." Li Hai added, "If the enemy blocks Hawaii, it will be very difficult for us. The island is nearly 4,800 kilometers away from the nearest California, which is much more than the enemy. For long-distance strategic air transport, even the latest long-distance transport aircraft can only transport 6-8 tons of supplies at a time. After deducting the return fuel, the net increase in supplies for a single trip is only 2-3 tons at best - in the short term, you can bite the bullet and fight hard, but in the long term It seems that this supply behavior cannot continue.”

"Assuming no assistance from the mainland, how long can Hawaii support it?"

"If the Japanese army does not attack and only blocks the blockade, it can last at least more than half a year; if the Japanese army attacks and a fierce conflict breaks out, it is hard to say. It may be 3 months, it may be 1 month or even shorter." Turner smiled bitterly, "Hawaii It has good military strength, as well as considerable naval maintenance and construction capabilities, but it is all based on the assistance provided by the rear. It cannot produce even one aircraft, one tank, one artillery shell, or one ton of oil. "

"You don't have to worry about one thing. The Japanese fleet can't last for three months." Li Hai comforted Truman, "The Japanese mainland is more than 7,000 kilometers away from Hawaii. It is possible to supplement and transport 100,000 to 150,000 tons of supplies, but Japan cannot maintain such a long supply line for a long time. This greatly exceeds Japan's national strength. The most likely possibility is that the Japanese army hopes to use Midway Island as its forward fortress and base after taking it, stockpiling supplies and troops on it, and then attack Hawaii from the island. So General Turner suggested using air force to continuously consume the Japanese army. Even if our army abandons Midway Island and is occupied by the enemy, we cannot interrupt the air strikes on Midway Island to prevent it from being built."

"But we can't maintain a strong air force in the Pacific and an equally strong air force in South America." Admiral Arnold complained, " In order to achieve the goal of deploying 3,000 combat aircraft to South America as required by the President, I am trying to transfer forces, even from the West Coast. If the West Coast also wants to expand, I don’t know where to get so many troops. ”

Truman was shocked: "Our army has so few planes? I remember you said that the United States can build 100,000 planes a year at full capacity. Now there is no need to aid Britain or the Soviet Union. We can use all these 100,000 planes ourselves. How can it be not enough?"

Arnold smiled bitterly and listed a series of data:

"First of all, there are no 100,000 planes. Now there are only 80,000 to 90,000 planes at most. If some backward models and trainers such as P-38\P-39\P-61 are excluded, the overall output is about 70,000 or more. About two-thirds of them are given to the army and one-third to the navy.

Secondly, the scale of the air force is determined What matters most is never the number of aircraft produced, but the number of qualified pilots. Before the Army Air Force joined the war, there were only more than 3,000 qualified pilots in service. After the Pearl Harbor incident, retired crews and reserve personnel were urgently recruited. By the end of 1942, the total number of crews exceeded 10,000. From that year on, we also suffered astonishing losses. We lost nearly 7,000 crews in the strategic bombing of Germany, and at least 9,000 crews in battles in the Caribbean, Newfoundland, Bermuda, Iceland, and the South Atlantic. We lost 2,000 crews in multiple strategic air transports and the Hump air transport, and more than 6,000 crews in various battles on the Pacific front. Then, we lost no less than 2,000 crews due to the fall of Britain, India, and Brazil; more than 1,000 crews were lost in other processes such as training, exercises, and transfers. Crews... In summary, the total loss is close to 28,000 crews.

Finally, the current Army Aviation is extremely widely distributed. On the East Coast, we have about 8,000 crews, more than half of which are fighters; in Central America and the Caribbean, we have more than 4,000 crews, more than one-third of which are fighters; South America is preparing to arrange 3,000 crews; the headquarters has 2,000 strategic air transport crews; 3,000 crews in Newfoundland and Canada; more than 1,000 crews in South Africa; more than 5,000 crews on the Australia and New Zealand front and the Pacific Islands front, distributed in Australia and New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and other large areas; the Aleutian Islands front has nearly 1,000 crews; we have 4,000 crews on the West Coast and Hawaii, a total of 31,000 crews. The use of military forces has reached the limit, so that the vast interior of the United States, that is, from the Rocky Mountains to the Tennessee River, an area equivalent to the entire Western Europe, has less than 2,000 crews. There are currently another 5,000 crews in training. Not counting these reserve crews, the total force of the Army Air Force is about 33,000 crews. This force is definitely not small. I think it is larger than the total force of the three Axis countries. ”

Hearing the last number, Truman breathed a sigh of relief, but Arnold's next sentence made him feel heartbroken.

"It is estimated that the German Air Force has 20,000 crews (actually less than 17,000), the Italian Air Force has 5,000 crews (actually only over 3,000), and the Japanese Army Aviation has 7,000 crews (actually more than 5,000). Although they are small in number, they have rich combat experience. Germany maintains a large front-line force on the Eastern Front and fights every day. The experienced crews are probably more than 75% (actually 68%). The Italian Air Force and the Japanese Army Aviation are a little bit worse, at least half of them, and we..." Arnold smiled bitterly and reported a number, "Excluding strategic air transport, there are about 20% with experience. Excluding strategic air transport, there are only about 15% with actual combat experience. What should we do? Not everyone who can fly a plane and land successfully is called a pilot..."