Chapter 986 Nimitz's Counterattack (19)

ps: I will go to Foshan tomorrow to attend Yuewen’s online writing training class to learn how to write better. Please forgive me if the update is not normal and I will make it up later...

The Joint Chiefs of Staff received Nimitz's telegram early in the morning. Seeing such heavy losses, Admiral Kim's face was filled with uncertainty. However, he praised Nimitz for one thing - at least he allowed the transport fleet to turn back in time. , greatly avoiding another disastrous defeat in the Horn of East Africa. That time we were able to land in Somalia, but if we were to land again this time, we would have to go to the Brazilian territory controlled by the German army. Is there any other way out there besides being a prisoner?

"But the German fleet may also attack the landing forces first." Eisenhower said worriedly, "General Nimitz will also take away 48 more escort fighters, which will further weaken the defense force."

"Ike, don't worry, this kind of thing will not happen. The German army will definitely concentrate on attacking our aircraft carrier formation." Turner comforted, "To say the least, the Germans are really stupid to attack our aircraft carrier formation." Didn’t the troops just expose the gap and successfully attract firepower there, creating a better opportunity for them to annihilate the enemy? Wasn’t it that we originally advocated letting George land to lure the Germans out? "

Eisenhower was also speechless: This time the Navy was quite honest and did not do anything at the expense of the Army, otherwise the two sides would be at odds again.

But Marshall obviously had more to think about. He frowned and asked: "If the outcome of this naval battle is not ideal, what are you going to do about the situation in Brazil and South America?"

"Then we can only rely on the army to hold the northern front line." Admiral Jin sighed. "If we can't win or even win at a greater cost, the navy's situation in South America will not be sustainable. The German main fleet will break in next month. The increase in troops in the South China Sea is foreseeable, and the situation of our army in South America will be very difficult, so I urged you to ship the supplies as soon as possible in the past two days - there is still a little time now, but it will be very troublesome in the future. "

Turner added: “If the German army gradually gains a foothold in South America, they will be able to send more aircraft, warships and submarines to Brazil. By then, not to mention the Recife area, even the Caribbean may face strangulation by the German army. , until then, only...only..."

He couldn't continue after saying two words. Both Marshall and Eisenhower understood the meaning behind it: the only solution was to seek peace.

"I don't understand why the president so simply rejected the olive branch extended by Japan." Turner said, "Although I want to wipe Japan off the map more than anyone else, to be honest, Japan's current Its strength is constantly expanding, and it has the support of Germany. I heard that Britain and Japan are still flirting with each other, and they plan to buy northwest India and retain a colony to bribe Japan. Although various conditions are spread all over the world, I think it is basically reliable. Yes, these supplies and equipment will cause us greater casualties after they are handed over to Japan. With Japan's example, it is said that France is also in contact with Japan about whether it can buy back part of the Indochina colony from the other party. It is said that Horikichi's attitude is. Ambiguous, no simple rejection. People are so flexible, why are we so rigid?"

Marshall asked: "Do you want to concentrate on Germany?"

"No, I don't want to fight anymore. I want to restore peace as soon as possible, and then use the rare rest period to improve military strength - I hope our scientists can develop more and better weapons, especially that key project..." Turner He gritted his teeth and said, "Assuming it is really that effective, it can be used to fight the next world war."

"But this voice is not mainstream among the people and on Capitol Hill. Everyone generally believes that peace can be achieved with Germany, but Japan cannot be let go." Eisenhower added, "The president himself seems to think so."

Admiral Kim said disheartenedly: "Let's not discuss this topic anymore. It is not the soldiers who decide war and peace, but the politicians. The problem is that politicians need votes. They only focus on the direction of the votes, not on the correct direction." Is Japan so easy to defeat? Without 3 million casualties, I don’t think we can defeat Japan.”

"Three million?" Marshall opened his mouth in surprise, "That much?"

"Not much." Admiral Jin shook his head, "Now the Japanese navy is stronger than ours, even without European support. It will take at least two years to reverse this situation, and then it will take another two years to solidify Japan. Don’t you think it would be very difficult to seize the defended islands one by one, for example, Cape Verde, Tarawa..."

"You mean, even if we fight Japan alone, the war will not end in three years?" Eisenhower's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Unless some kind of super weapon is used, if we follow the current conventional warfare, I think we will be extremely powerful if we can force Japan to surrender within three years." Turner whispered, "Think about it, the war between Japan and India has been settled, and China The battlefield has been shrinking, and the Kwantung Army did not dare to trouble Stalin, and Stalin did not dare to fight. Now Japan only has one front. After all, this is a world power, not to mention that it has one of the world's best naval forces. The army's equipment is very poor, but the Japanese soldiers are still very brave and can endure hardships - if you don't believe it, look at the combat effectiveness of the 442nd Regiment!"

Eisenhower nodded: Because of the heroic performance of the 442nd Regiment, it became a rare highlight of the Brazilian campaign. Many friendly officers and soldiers reversed their prejudice against Japanese Americans and called them "the best comrades in arms." President Truman gave high praise and also The 442nd Regiment was awarded the Presidential Medal, and now reserve and supplementary forces are being mobilized. Clark is preparing to rebuild the 442nd Regiment in Recife—again, all Japanese. The Army Department also tried to recruit Brazilian Japanese to serve, but the latter apparently had little interest and no sense of identification with the U.S. military, and very few responded.

Turner once said to General Kim in private: If all Japanese soldiers had the combat effectiveness of the 442nd Regiment, I am afraid that in the future corpses would be spread all the way from Washington to Tokyo. Admiral King agreed with this view, but told him to keep his mouth shut, and Wallace died on that mouth.

"In the past, what restricted Japan was industrial power and resources. Now these two problems have been mostly solved - if not completely solved. 3 years can't be shorter... If the Germans secretly intervene, it will take 5 or even 8 years It’s possible. But peace is impossible!”

Generals Marshall and King knew this better than Turner. When the final draft of the Japan-US peace was handed over through neutral countries, the cabinet did waver a little, but Truman said: "I don't have to be president, and I don't have to run for office. President, I must not surrender to Japan, otherwise how can I explain to Mr. Roosevelt? If you want peace talks, you can go to Dewey."

As soon as this sentence was said, everyone understood that Truman was not willing to sign a peace treaty even if he tried to persuade the president not to do it, so the peace negotiations had to come to an end, at least for half a year.

It is said that Admirals Marshall and King were very worried about Truman's condition and believed that he now had a tendency to give up on himself. He even publicly said that he would withdraw from the campaign, but everyone had no favorable results or victories to report to the president, so they could only feel guilty. ——Is it the president’s sole responsibility to fail to win the war?

In the morning, while attending the meeting of the Naval Shipbuilding Committee, Admiral Kim and others were concerned about the war situation in Brazil. They would ask if they had the latest telegram almost every half hour - they were almost neurotic to the extreme.

Others were also preoccupied. The meeting was originally considering whether to add some other warships, but when Turner mentioned that the Nimitz fleet was ambushed by a submarine and lost a large number of cruisers and escort carriers, the meeting immediately fell into silence.

The current U.S. Navy shipbuilding plan is very simple: freighter - Victory, destroyer - Fletcher class, cruiser - Oakland class, escort carrier - Casablanca class, fleet aircraft carrier - Essex class, battleship - Monte The Dana class is all built using standardized processes, and many of its parts are interchangeable - the 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun, the 127mm high-level dual-purpose naval gun, and various radars.

It is a pity that even though the construction quantity and efficiency have been maximized, they still cannot keep up with the rate of loss. Spruance lost the Iowa, and Nimitz just lost the Missouri and damaged the Wisconsin today. There was only one usable battleship left in the Atlantic Fleet.

"Do we need to add more Iowa-class construction numbers?" Li Haihai frowned and said, "One Iowa-class will take 30 months at the fastest and consume at least 160 million U.S. dollars in funds and a large amount of materials. But it was It was so easy to sink that I don’t even know how to explain it to Congress and the president.”

"We should focus on the improvement of submarines and torpedoes. We must also develop super torpedoes and super submarines." Lieutenant General Mitchell gritted his teeth viciously. "Otherwise, no matter how many aircraft carriers and battleships are built, they will all be prey for the Germans! If this continues We will never win this war."

"I think we need to build additional anti-aircraft cruisers - they are not expensive and are fast. In addition..." Turner sighed, "To be honest, this suggestion goes against my conscience, but I have to say that there is no way to defend against the terrible enemy. In front of the torpedoes, I suggest using more destroyers and cruisers to provide close protection for the fleet aircraft carriers and battleships.”

This is what it means to vigorously build human shields. It is undoubtedly a very sad and morale-damaging behavior - are the lives of officers and soldiers on auxiliary warships cheaper than those on main warships? But judging from the actual situation on the battlefield, it is a good approach.

"Sir, General Nimitz's attack group has taken off, with a total of 260 aircraft, divided into two waves... 48 fighter jets drawn from the transport fleet are currently landing to prepare for refueling and perform air defense missions. The enemy aircraft have not yet appeared. "

"Okay! This is at least a good sign!" Admiral Jin stood up, "I hope the pilots will have better luck today and sink a few more warships to avenge their comrades!"