Chapter 451 Canal Zone (Part 2)

At 16:35, with the 410mm main gun of the Nagato as the lead, the bombardment formation launched an unprecedented bombardment on the canal area at a distance of about 18,000 meters. Before that, several 203mm coastal defense turrets of the US military had been destroyed. While bombarding, the attack aircraft group was dispatched on a large scale, aiming at the beachhead positions and fortifications. Although the momentum and scene were huge, Hori Teikichi knew that the US military had been prepared. Now it could only destroy the coastal fortifications, airports and some frontier positions at most. If the casualties of the enemy could exceed 1,000, it would be a major victory. After the air strike, the US ground forces would still be waiting for him in the depths - there was a place where the naval guns could not reach.

As for the Panama locks, he did not believe that it could be completely destroyed by relying on carrier-based aircraft bombing - it was not enough to paralyze such a key hub for only 3-6 months. The Americans would be able to repair it soon, which was not worthy of his hard work in this plan.

Of course, this was just his own consideration. It was completely different for the U.S. military: After the Pearl Harbor incident, the U.S. military fought for nearly a year and a half. Although they did not fight much with the German Army, they had fought bloody battles with the Japanese Army in the Pacific battlefield many times. They never had a frustrating moment of being bombed and unable to fight back. As for the fact that Guadalcanal was bombarded overnight and caused more than half of the defenders to lose, it was also a legendary thing. No one witnessed it with their own eyes, so these officers and soldiers felt like the end of the world was coming. Not to mention the tenacious resistance on the beachhead, they were trembling even when hiding from shells in the rear defense line.

If Lieutenant General Ross had not known that his troops were all untested troops and wisely adopted the policy of retreating to avoid the enemy, the troops would have collapsed at this moment. But even so, the heavy caliber naval artillery shells that rained down like raindrops still made him feel miserable. Telegrams for help were sent to Washington like snowflakes, which made Marshall and Admiral King sigh repeatedly, but they could not easily order a retreat. Once such an order was issued, the Panama Campaign would be irreversible. They could only cheer Ross up and ask him to hold on: on the one hand, they comforted him that the Axis fleet could not land, and his troops would be fine as long as they stayed away; on the other hand, they told him that hundreds of planes had been mobilized for the Nicaraguan Air Force Base, and there would be enough planes to cover him tomorrow morning, and there would be planes on the third and fourth days - the continuous reinforcements from the mainland would be his strong backing.

When saying these words, Marshall and Admiral King were mobilizing troops with gritted teeth. Today's 60% combat loss rate is really horrifying. They would not frown at all if they were asked to mobilize 1,000 aircraft. But pilots are not cabbages after all. Most of the most combat-capable pilots of the US Army Aviation are in the UK, and most of the most combat-capable units of the Navy Aviation (land-based) are in the Far East. Apart from flight instructors and carrier-based pilots, there are not many pilots in China who can undertake long-distance search, long-distance flight and combat. The more than 80 pilots (groups) transferred today have already exhausted all the qualified pilots in the air force bases in the seven southern states of the East Coast, but they still have to continue to fill this meat grinder. Tomorrow, they are going to transfer pilots from 11 northeastern states of the East Coast. Ingersoll reported that it would take at least three days for him to get to Panama. No one has any hope of saving the canal. The biggest motivation for the Joint Chiefs of Staff to persist is to annihilate the main force of the Axis fleet.

After night fell, Hori Teikichi in the commander's tower stared blankly at the map, lost in thought. It was the first time that Kusaka Renji saw him in such a dilemma, and his expression was very nervous.

"Have all the pilots been rescued?"

"All those who can be found have been rescued. A total of 4 crews were rescued from the Comet-type aircraft in the night raid yesterday, and a total of 5 people were rescued from the Zero-type aircraft in the daytime air battle today..." Kusaka Renji reported, "The rescued pilots are not seriously injured, and they can be put into battle again after a night's rest. There must have been some pilots (groups) who fell into the hands of the US military after parachuting in the night raid yesterday, but the pilots who were not found in the air battle this afternoon are probably missing."

In the vast ocean, missing is a euphemism for death. Hori Teikichi sighed. This is the best result: in such a fierce air battle in the afternoon, a total of 8 planes were shot down, but only 3 pilots were lost. The US military lost far more than itself. Although the casualties in the night raid yesterday were a bit large, it was completely worth it from a tactical point of view - if the airport in Panama was not paralyzed, there would be more planes to face today.

The overall casualties were still within the tolerable range, but he was in a dilemma about how to fight the next battle. He received two messages 15 minutes ago:

The first one was sent by the landing troops, reporting that due to the speed of the landing ship, the first wave of landing can only start at 4:30 tomorrow morning, and it will take at least 5 hours to complete the landing; the second one was sent by the sea reconnaissance, reporting that a large number of aircraft were landing at the US military airport in Nicaragua, which is about 635 kilometers away from the Panama Canal Zone. The specific deployment of the airport is unknown. In order to avoid disturbing the enemy, the sea reconnaissance has returned.

Based on these two messages, there are several options before him, but he can't find the best option after thinking about it, so he fell into deep distress:

The first way is to have the mobile fleet approach Nicaragua tonight and launch a night attack on the US military airport, trying to paralyze the airport for 6-8 hours. However, Tsukahara 243 strongly opposed it and believed that more than a quarter of the pilots would be lost if this plan was implemented. Even reaching one-third, for two reasons. One is that a night attack on the Panama Canal Zone was carried out last night. The enemy must be prepared for the same tactics, which increases the difficulty of the raid. Second, the Panama Canal Zone is at least world-famous. Landmarks, the relevant information is public, and there are photos for reference. The night attack troops can better grasp the direction and target. But now, except for roughly knowing the location of the US military base in Nicaragua, they are completely blind to the rest of the situation. The effect of air strikes is definitely not good. It will be fine. Horikichi couldn't bear the loss of a quarter, let alone a third, so this road was closed.

Tsukahara proposed a second approach, which was to skip the night attack and land the landing force normally, allowing the artillery fleet to withstand another round of air strikes tomorrow morning. However, a staff officer immediately raised questions: What if the US bombers did not come to air attack the fleet but specifically attacked the landing force? what to do? And this is almost impossible to avoid. The air attack on the beach landing troops is also second. What if the spearhead is aimed at the transport fleet? The transport fleet was far away today and the US military did not notice it. It will be on the beach early tomorrow morning. If you don't see it, you will be blind. So this road was shelved by Horikichi.

Some staff members proposed a third way: taking advantage of the current firepower advantage of the bombardment fleet, just secretly send dozens of engineers up at night to blow up the locks, and then the fleet evacuates overnight, without risking landing or exposing the fleet to the U.S. military the next day. Under air raids. However, most of the staff expressed opposition. The U.S. military has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the canal zone, and the ship locks are a top priority. Although it is temporarily retreating, it does not mean that the U.S. military has completely given up on combat and defense. It is impossible for dozens of engineers to infiltrate alone. Go in. To put it another way, so what if it penetrates? Dozens of engineers can carry hundreds of kilograms of explosives in the sky, which is not enough to deal with canals and locks.

The German generals headed by Machar proposed a fourth way: find two random ships to sink in the canal, violently bombard the locks and canal area with naval guns, use up at least half of the ammunition, and then withdraw overnight. Horikichi knew that this was the easiest option to succeed, and that if it was run properly it could paralyze the canal for at least 9-12 months. But he didn't want to let the Americans off so easily. He wanted to paralyze the canal for 2 or even 3 years - to make the Americans think that it was impossible to repair the canal before the end of the war.

He raised his head, showed a bitter smile, and said to Kusaka Renichi: "Now I finally understand Yamamoto-kun's difficulty in having no idea what to say when faced with Midway Island. How can it be the same with Panama now?"

Caolu Renyi comforted him: "Sir, don't put so much pressure on yourself. We can fight Panama for the first time, and we can fight for the second time in the future..."

"There are no second chances!" Horikichi shook his head, pointing to a circle of islands around the Caribbean Sea and sighed, "Now the Americans just have airports in Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Panama, and then they were caught off guard and connected to us. I’ll bet you that if you come back next year, there will be American planes and troops on all the islands. From now on, the Caribbean will be a big cage, and you can’t get in or get out.”

The metaphor of "cage" was so vivid that Caolu Renyi frowned - considering the astonishing speed of construction shown by the Americans on Guadalcanal, he had to admit that this concern was real. Exists - how close the Caribbean is to the continental United States!

After thinking hard for three minutes, Horikichi suddenly made a decision: "Send a telegram to General Machar and the German Marine Brigade and ask: If the landing troops need to bear half of the casualties to complete the mission tomorrow, do you accept it? Then send a telegram to Tsukahara, I plan to consider the second option and ask him about his strategies to reduce air raid losses.”

"This..." Caolu Renyi was shocked, "Sir, you don't want to think about it anymore?"

Horikichi looked at the wall clock: "There is not so much time. I must make a decision as soon as possible. Hesitation will only lead to greater losses."

Three minutes later, Machar's call back came: "It can be accepted if necessary."

Five minutes later, a telegram from the Marine Brigade came: "This brigade will fight to the last man to complete the mission!"

Fifteen minutes later, a telegram from Tsukahara 243 came: "We have a strategy. If the enemy aircraft attack in a single attack wave within 120 aircraft, we can ensure the landing air superiority. However, the artillery fleet needs to share part of the risk and may lose 1-2 A battleship.”

In the evening, everyone is waiting for the final order to be issued. Is it a fight? Wait? Is it running? The bombardment of the canal area gradually became sparse, with only a few heavy cruisers firing a few cannons from time to time.

At 10:15, all combat troops received the order: Execute Case B! Landing operations and storming the canal zone!