Nimitz weighed the pros and consequently decided to fight the joint fleet, because the Japanese attack on Australia and New Zealand was too severe and had overwhelmed the sound of the Battle of Tarava. If the Pacific Fleet had been avoiding the war, there would be no need to fight in the future.

He understood the hint of General Jin in the opposite direction: if the Battle of Azore is won, the Pacific Fleet will not matter whether it wins or loses; if the Battle of Azore is lost, the Pacific Fleet will have to fight a battle. If it does not fight, the Azore will lose again, but I am afraid that the Pacific Fleet will completely become an existing fleet.

As for the possibility that Australia and New Zealand would fall if it loses the naval battle, he doesn't believe it. There is no way for hundreds of thousands of Australian and New Zealand officers and soldiers and the US Army to deal with the Japanese Navy. Can't we deal with the Japanese Army?

Although Azore's success or failure did not restrict him, he was very concerned about the situation. Taking advantage of the opportunity to rest in Pearl Harbor, he took the initiative to summarize the experience of this Battle of Tarawa and some officers (including Holland, Devin) and others who participated in the actual combat back to the country, and they taught the experience and lessons to the country. All parties praised it.

On the second day of the flight to Washington, Holland described the lessons of the Battle of Tarawa to senior British and American officers who were preparing to participate in Operation Overlord:

"Ambulatory landing must be carefully planned in advance: reconnaissance should be carried out in detail and meticulously, and efforts should be made to survey the enemy's firepower points; naval gun shooting and air strikes should be sufficient, accurate, and well-cooperated, and there should be no disconnection between front and back; amphibious vehicles and amphibious landing tanks of sufficient quantity and quality must be equipped; tide tables should be formulated as accurate as possible, and troops should be dispatched and arranged according to the time of fluctuations and tides as much as possible. The distance between soldiers landing is one meter away from the beachhead, and the possibility of their sacrifice will be increased by one point.

You must have a complete set of equipment and tactics to deal with semi-underground bunkers; logistics support is very important, the consumption of ammunition and supplies will be far beyond imagination, and communication and communication equipment are the key; the troops must be sufficient, and if the battlefield conditions are met, you must have a 3:1 or even 5:1 force advantage; the commander's orders must be decisive and adaptable, but if you make mistakes, it must be implemented to the end. For example, if there is a location error during logging in, it is much wiser to squeeze into two units and log in again; soldiers must have courage and a high level of training... All of the above directly affect the results of the battle."

Holland finally concluded: "The best way to choose a place to simulate the place to land, fully simulate the situation of the enemy, the worst situation we can imagine, and the on-site terrain, and then let our people fight in actual combat. In addition, we must educate our officers and soldiers to learn to fight without air superiority, fight in the darkness, and fight with firepower suppressed..."

Everyone was whispering below, and Holland finally said something that was usually done by three people, and everyone was a little excited...

"How do you think the airborne troops should be used reasonably in the battle to seize the island? It seems that the German army's use effect on Crete is very poor." The person who stood up and asked the question was the commander of the 82nd Infantry Division, Matthew Bunker Lichwei.

"Frankly speaking, I don't think the Airborne Division should be in Operation Overlord." Holland pondered for a moment and said slowly, "It's not that I underestimated the combat effectiveness of the 82nd Infantry Division. Generally speaking, the Airborne Division is more combat-effective than ordinary army units, but the Azores are a very small place. When it comes to landing, it may fall into the sea as long as the wind blows a little higher. As for aircraft landing, I think it's difficult for a German airport to be controlled by us."

"My 3rd Armored Division was identified as one of the first landing troops. The key question is, how can I transport those damn heavy equipment now?" The second question was Major General Walton Walker, the commander of the Fourth Armored Army.

"The Germans used amphibious tanks, most of which are No. 4. I heard that there are tiger styles, but I have never seen them." Holland said, "First get off our lst, then climb over the shallows and then get ashore. This process will be very dangerous, because the speed is much slower than usual... As for artillery, especially medium and large caliber howitzers, I think you should not count on them within 3 days, at most you can use some mortars."

"Who will assist in suppressing the enemy's firepower?"

"Relying on the nearby suppression of long-range artillery fire of battleships and beach warships, and then relying on artillery cover from small warships such as destroyers and frigates, perhaps you can get aircraft cover if you have better luck."

"What does it mean to be more lucky?"

"When both sides intertwined, the air firepower was useless. If there was a slight deviation, it would fall on our own people. This time we went to fight Tarawa, and there were at least two companies of soldiers who died under their own bombs and shells." Holland showed a sad expression. "Our bombers, especially dive bombers pilots, lack experience, and close support would be bad..."

Everyone in the congregation shook their heads. They were all Lao Chiang, who had been in the army for many years. Although the long-range artillery of the battleships was powerful, it was difficult to use on a large scale as soon as they landed. The 5-inch and 6-inch tubes on the destroyers and frigates were not as fierce as the enemy's firepower. I heard that the German army built a large number of permanent firepower points modified with naval guns on the island.

Now everyone finally learned the meaning of what Holland said just now, "fighting under the suppression of firepower". Major General Alan Aldale, who led the British Imperial Guard Armored Division, was frowning. As the commander of the armored forces who had sufficient combat effectiveness in the British Empire, he was under great pressure. Although Master Churchill was full of expectations and encouragement towards him, Marshal Brooke secretly talked to him before leaving, asking him to pay attention to preserving his strength and not to bury all the essence on Azores.

Although Holland talked about many difficulties and these people listened to them, most of them were cautiously optimistic about the prospects of the battle. The Tarava was still taken down no matter how hard it was to fight? The place Azore is so important that it is generally believed that even if the price is a little higher, it would be a victory if it can be won!

Just as they made a comment on the Battle of Tarawa, some people insisted that the Battle of Tarawa was not actually over.

"Sir, all kinds of materials have reached the warning line." Cao Lu Renyi said with a little concern, "75% of the oil tankers have been used up. The surplus oil on merchant ships and tankers intercepted in the middle also utilizes this proportion. At present, the oil inside each ship is basically full. According to the current consumption rate, the destroyers will be exhausted in about 5 days, and the light cruisers will run out of supply oil in about 7 days. Although they can all draw fuel from heavy cruisers and battleships, there is still uncertainty.

In terms of ammunition, the remaining ammunition of the main ships and guns is about one-third to half. The aircraft has lost 127 aircraft and 39 pilots have died or disappeared. After selecting backup aircraft and reserve pilots, the fleet's full rate is 94%.

Hori Teiki nodded: "Where has Kakuda's troops been?"

"It is expected to be able to meet with us within 10 days. According to your request, he brought two oil tankers from Borneo, with a total of 15,000 tons of heavy oil. These fuels and new supplements can barely support us to return to the local area." Cao Lu Ren said, "This is, Tarawa has not responded for nearly 20 days. Will the fleet go there? Or send a destroyer to see it?"

"There is still reserves in the Truk anchorage, so don't worry. But if you promised them, you must go, and we are late." Horitiki sighed, "There are powerful figures in the enemy army. If the fleet is plaguing Australia and Xinhai so much, he will not take the bait."

Nobutake Kondo smiled: "He was frightened by your attitude of sweeping everything and Tsukahara's suspicious plan."

The ANZA Air Force repeatedly reported that the Japanese fleet had 5-6 aircraft carriers, which was very consistent with what Nimitz had mastered before the war. In addition, the land aircraft aircraft were attacked by a large number of carrier-based aircraft aircraft, so he was not aware of the mistake. In fact, the combined fleet could only fight with two large and three aircraft carriers, and the other three were all supplementary aircraft carriers and auxiliary aircraft carriers. The aircraft on it were all real, but they could not take off and land for combat. It was just a supplement to combat aircraft carriers. This was also the secret of the Japanese aviation army maintaining a high departing rate and integrity rate.

In order to improve the winning rate and avoid the spirit of the joint fleet, Nimitz was determined to wait for the arrival of the newly added aircraft carrier.

"Go north and go to Tarawa to see if there are any survivors..."

On August 19, the main force of the joint fleet passed north from the waters between Tonga and the Cook Islands. On the same day, the rest was completed. Nimitz, who received local support, also led the fleet to set off again.

At this point, the battle, called the "Australia-New Zealand harassment war", finally came to an end. In this cold winter (it was winter in the southern hemisphere), Australia and New Zealand have really tasted the bitter fruit: the air force of the two countries, together with the US Army Air, lost more than 700 aircraft in total. Except for those lucky people who insisted on flying the damaged plane back in the end and a very small number of lucky people, the other pilots either freeze to death in the sea or become Japanese prisoners.

Except for a few larger battleships that followed the Pacific Fleet to participate in the Battle of Tarava, the other navies who were escorting the ports or performing escort missions were almost destroyed, with a total loss of nearly 150,000 tons. In addition to naval warships, the merchant fleet also suffered great losses. The entire Australian-Xinjiang route was cut off by the joint fleet, and the Allies lost more than 300,000 tons of merchant ships at sea and at ports.

What's even more terrible is the damage caused by Japanese bombing and shelling on the coastal areas of Australia and New Zealand. The overall loss is expected to exceed US$5 billion. The two countries were forced to relocate and evacuate more than 2 million people. What's even more tragic is New Zealand. Due to its narrow land area, major cities such as Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch were all located in the coastal areas and were taken down by the joint fleet. Even if the two governments evacuated and relocated their population in time, they still lost tens of thousands of people outside the army, and production was at a standstill, and the national order was in chaos. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!