Chapter 976 Nimitz's Counterattack (9)

Clark finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Patton had finally assumed command of the Fifth Army and was willing to lead the troops to carry out landing missions behind enemy lines.

In his opinion, the Navy's sudden proposal to land behind enemy lines at this time was a very unreliable and unserious action, reflecting its impetuous and aggressive mood. According to his idea, the navy should cover the army's offensive, and slowly advance from Salvador-Illeus-Porto Seguro-Victoria and other cities on the east coast of Brazil, in an effort to capture Rio City in one go.

Does this tactic make sense? Of course it makes sense.

The terrain of Brazil from El Salvador to Rio de Janeiro is very peculiar. Along the eastern coastline of Brazil, there is a plain belt with a narrowest point of less than 10 kilometers and a widest point of only about 200 kilometers. This plain belt stretches continuously to the west. The mountainous hills and forests are not suitable for heavy equipment group movements. At best, they can only pass through light infantry or mountain infantry. This is why Shaoken estimates that the US military can only use 20,000 troops at most. Beyond this limit, the US military cannot Provide adequate logistical support.

But Shaoken still overestimated the Americans. He said that 20,000 people was calculated according to German army standards. In his mind, the troops could march on foot, and the necessary vehicles were used to carry supplies and equipment. This would be more compact and difficult. Can maintain a scale of 20,000. But the problem is that American soldiers need to travel by car whenever they go more than 5 kilometers, not to mention that the offensive distance is not just a few kilometers or dozens of kilometers, but at least 300 kilometers - a long-distance march on foot and carrying personal equipment on the back of the tactical requirements. It's basically the same as killing them.

What's more, the U.S. infantry divisions are much more heavily equipped than the German infantry divisions, and they also have many tanks. According to German standards, every U.S. infantry division can basically be regarded as an armored grenadier division (referring to the old German establishment). This is why Germany The U.S. Army, which has more than 30 armored divisions and produces more tanks (basically the same as Germany after deducting the production of aid to the Soviet Union and Britain), only has 16 armored divisions. This is because the U.S. Army allocates a large number of tanks to traditional infantry. It is not centralized to supply armored divisions.

With the capture of the entire 8th Armored Division stationed in the UK, the US military now has only 15 armored divisions. Among them, the 2nd Armored Division, although complete in designation, is a unit that has experienced the African campaign - it was polished and rebuilt.

As a result, the required vehicles and equipment have greatly increased. The increase in vehicles will further increase the supply demand for fuel and accessories, not to mention that the US military's demand for other daily necessities, including rations, exceeds that of the German army. According to Clark's calculations, a raid team of about 5,000 people can only be maintained. No one wants to perform such a thankless task - at best it is called a raid team, at worst it is called a death squad.

Everyone, like Clark, wants to use the tactic of advancing hand in hand, relying on the superiority of air force and ground firepower to press all the way across this slender plain belt. What should I do if I can't press it? Let the navy use naval guns to suppress it! ——Most of the coastal areas are within the control range of naval guns, which is enough to clear a front.

According to Clark's idea, he has more soldiers, more artillery and tanks than the Germans, and more aircraft than the Germans. He also has the navy to support him at close range and provide supplies. You won't lose even if you fight, which is why it makes "reason" in theory.

Unfortunately, no one, including Clark himself, knew that this tactic had actually been used by him in history. When the Allied forces successfully landed in Sicily and advanced to northern Italy, Clark led the Fifth Army into Kaiser. The German army commanded by Lin, who gave the US military a head-on attack: the Allied forces successfully landed in Italy in September 1943, and continued to fight until May 1945. The Allied forces failed to break through the German defense lines. In Anzio and Gusta They were badly beaten in front of the Soviet defense line and only advanced 70 kilometers in 4 months; in the Battle of Cassino in 1944, Clark, then commander of the Fifth Army, gained 4 points with absolute air superiority and firepower superiority. Double the German casualties, the Fifth Army he commanded accounted for 90% of the Allied casualties in the entire campaign, so much so that Clark was called a "murderer" by grassroots officers and soldiers.

Even if Nimitz didn't understand the Army, he instinctively thought that this tactic was inappropriate - it was too rigid and a waste of time. This meant that the German army could intercept the heavy US military group as long as it held tight at a certain point. Even if it could not hold on, It is also easy to retreat to the next defense point and snipe again. Isn’t the reason why the Japanese 442nd Regiment was able to tenaciously hold on and rescue friendly troops rely on this special terrain?

Not to mention that the navy does not have so much time to accompany the army to slowly wear it out. Even if it has time, it cannot do this. What if the German fleet suddenly appears when the army is crushing hard? In charge of the army or the navy?

Admiral Jin had long seen through Clark's level and thought that he just talked a lot. He spoke eloquently and closely adhered to classic theories and the tactical mysteries of famous military strategists. In fact, he didn't know how to fight at all. "Compared to Patton or Patton." Li Qiwei was too far behind!" Worried that his blind command would delay things, he tried every means to get the position of commander of the Allied Forces in the South American Theater to Nimitz, and asked Turner to tell Nimitz in a secret message: "Don't worry about Clark's noise, how to fight. Just fight as you like, let Barton think of a way."

A rather strange scene occurred in the Allied command system: Theater Commander Nimitz stayed on the USS Franklin aircraft carrier to take command, but the theater headquarters was located in Recife, and the Fifth Army headquarters was still far away in Venezuela.

The German army was not much inferior to this: Marshal, the supreme commander of the theater, was still in Europe, and the theater headquarters was located in the Falkland Islands, while the main force of the Army's Schauken Group was far away in Rio de Janeiro.

But there was one thing that the German army was much stronger than the US army. Schauken was not Clark, who was sitting and talking, nor was he Patton, who was busy requesting to go to the front line. He held real power and had the most sophisticated weapons. The day after Berlin decided to adopt a radical plan, he commanded his troops to launch a sharp attack by the US military. The first target was the Japanese 442nd Regiment that intercepted the German army's advance.

After receiving the retreat of its own troops, the 442nd Regiment retreated all the way to the north, but because they gave a large number of vehicles to the retreating troops, and they had to cover the rear, the pace of retreat was not fast. Clark wanted the retreating troops to help the 442nd Regiment defend the front line, but these guys had lost all their heavy equipment and could not play a role at all. He had to mobilize an anti-tank battalion and a tank battalion from the rear to assist the 442nd Regiment in jointly defending the first front line - near the city of Guarapari in Espirito Santo. It is the narrowest part of the entire plain belt on the east coast of Brazil. The narrowest part is only 8 kilometers, and there are continuous hills next to it, which can effectively block the passage of German heavy troops.

The 442nd Regiment had lost a quarter of its troops in the first blocking battle. Now the remaining troops of the regiment and the two newly reinforced battalions are guarding this narrow passage to prevent the German army from passing. To complete the task, they not only cut off the coastal highway, dug three consecutive anti-tank trenches, but also cleverly deployed anti-tank firepower.

Regardless of how Clark behaved in other aspects, his personality charm was beyond reproach for the 442nd Regiment. When other US troops disdained, discriminated against, or even hated the 442nd Regiment, he not only did not show such emotions, but also pulled them over to serve as the headquarters guard regiment, fully demonstrating his attention and broad-mindedness. After the 442nd Regiment covered the retreat of other troops, he did not treat it as a discarded pawn, but sent supplies and reinforcements (still Japanese) in time, transferred two heavy-armored battalions to coordinate defense, and even explicitly let the head of the 442nd Regiment command all troops.

The heavy-armored battalions transferred here were not ordinary ones. They were the 762nd Tank Battalion and the 898th Tank Destroyer Battalion. The former was equipped with the rare M26 heavy tanks in the US military, and the latter was equipped with the urgently modified M36 tank destroyers.

After the Battle of Cape Verde, the M6 ​​heavy tank was confirmed by the US military as a failed model and stopped production. More than 1,000 M6s produced were given to the British and Canadian troops, each with more than 100, and the rest were left in the rear as training vehicles. However, the US military's desire for heavy tanks did not extinguish with the failure of the M6, but became more intense due to the stimulation of the Tiger tank. While the M6 ​​was being developed, the US military's T25\T26 tanks were also accelerating their exploration, and this was a project that Roosevelt personally led.

After working day and night, the M26, which was equipped with a 90mm tank gun and based on the T26E2 (the second improved model), finally came out earlier than in history. Of course, this was a premature baby, because in history, the M26 was improved on the basis of the T26E3, but the Americans were eager to equip themselves, so they could not care so much and could only improve while exploring. The newly released M26 has 120mm frontal armor and 102mm frontal armor on the turret. The new 500-horsepower engine has a lower height due to the use of a new double-chamber carburetor, which significantly reduces the height of the vehicle. The overall weight is controlled at about 42 tons, which is slightly lighter than the Tiger, but more than the Panther.

According to the US military, the defense capability of this vehicle is close to that of the Tiger, and the gun (90mm) is slightly better than the Tiger with an 88mm/L56 tank gun. The mobility is basically the same, and it is considered the closest heavy tank to the Tiger.

There are also third and fourth modifications of the T26. The fourth modification is deeply loved by the army's top brass - that is, a hybrid version of the M26 turret and American parts installed on the IS-2 tank chassis. The Army Equipment Bureau even gave a special model - M26/SP (a combination of Stalin's S and Pershing's P), and gave the Detroit General Motors Factory the task of producing 800 vehicles as soon as possible. As for the copycat IS-2 chassis, the Americans with a full set of drawings in hand thought it was not a problem.