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After fear and sadness, there was strong dissatisfaction. The people of Australia and New Zealand fully realized the weakness of their own national defense and the unreliability of the US military. Although the government tried hard to control the people's emotions, they expressed their extreme anger at the situation where the Allies were unable to protect themselves. Coupled with the experience and losses of the Australian and New Zealand troops in the early African battles, it was a wave of protests sweeping across the country.

In this wave, the person who is most hated by people gritting teeth is naturally Hori Teki, which is undoubtedly; the second place is Nimitz. In the eyes of many people, he is even more hated than Hori Teki, because the latter is the enemy, and the killing is completely for legitimate reasons. When the Allies gain the upper hand, they can also go to the Japanese archipelago to make the case. But Nimitz, as the commander of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet, actually hid in Pearl Harbor with the main force of the fleet during the Japanese fleet ravaging Australia and New Zealand, became a turtle with his head-shrinking. Although Hori Teki strongly praised his opponent's forbearance, isn't this choice also a reason why Nimitz decided to fight a battle, otherwise, when the Pacific Fleet went to Australia and New Zealand again, he might be driven out with tomatoes and rotten eggs.

The third person on the public hatred list is Churchill. No matter what, Australia and New Zealand are the autonomous rulers of the British Empire. They joined the war for the interests of their motherland. But now the British mainland ignores this. The people, regardless of whether the British Empire is unable to protect itself, just accusing London of irresponsibility, which further exacerbates the tendency of centrifugality.

It is believed that after the joint fleet leaves, the two countries will repair the trauma of the war and strive to consolidate the defense system. In addition to requiring the United States to provide more combat aircraft and more shore firepower, they also place orders for warships. Australia and New Zealand are determined to form their own joint fleet and build an aircraft carrier combat formation in the region. In order to calm Australia and New Zealand's emotions, President Roosevelt stated on behalf of the US government that he would donate one of the two countries each after the Essex-class aircraft carriers are put into service at the end of next year, and at the same time, some escort aircraft carriers and destroyers were included, which has improved the mood of the two countries a lot.

Nimitz was also very busy at Pearl Harbor. The fleet fully replenished supplies and sent the wounded to the hospital. After emergency repairs by the shipyard, the trauma of warships including the Indiana was urgently repaired. However, the damage to the hull was easy to repair, and the remaining damaged anti-aircraft guns and auxiliary facilities were also easy to replace. However, the damage to the main gun turret was unable to complete the repair in a short time. The shipyard technicians faced two main gun turrets that were damaged to varying degrees. After the adjustment of the "cutting meat and sucking" type, the slightly lighter turret No. 2 was repaired, but its shooting range was limited to 60 degrees each on the left and right.

The head of the shipyard told Nimitz that if all repairs were needed, he had to wait for the new turrets in China to be shipped. In addition, the time for dismantling and replacement was "no thoughts were possible without three months", but Nimitz was about to lead the team to fight, so could he wait for another 3 months? Moreover, after the North Carolina ran aground, the battleships he could use had dropped to 3, and if there were no Indiana, there would be only 2, and there were at least 6 Japanese battleships, so he had to take them out even if he had to bite the bullet.

"What are the current situations in the front line?"

"Tarawa didn't find anything. The aircraft deployed on it conducted large-scale searches on the surrounding waters every day. However, the submarine reported that it had discovered a batch of merchant ships two days ago. However, because of the Japanese escort warships, he failed to succeed. At that time, the location was in the South China Sea." Halsey looked at the map, "We suspected that this was the Japanese transport fleet, which began to disperse after passing through the Strait of Malacca, but the overall target should still be Japan."

"Let the submarines sink them as much as possible, whether it is equipment or industrial equipment, it will significantly enhance the war defeat in Japan." Nimitz sighed. "Hotiji is much more fierce than we think. He used the method of attacking Australia and New Zealand to cover the safety of the transport fleet. It is a terrible enemy."

"The key is that the attack ability of the Land Airlines to the fleet is really poor." Halsey complained, "It only hurt 1-2 aircraft carriers after paying so much. Even if it sinks one, it is good. It is not as good as the results of the Land Airlines in the Battle of Panama."

"This is the sequelae of the Battle of Panama... General Arnold was frightened by the high losses of the Land Airlines. Now the average experience of pilots has dropped very quickly." Nimitz frowned and said, "Didn't you find that the carrier-based pilots on the escort aircraft carrier are all rookies?"

"Hey, I just hope they can grow up as soon as possible." Halsey asked to himself, "Now the Australian and New Zealand side has not reported the Japanese fleet. Where have they been? Will they not return to India as the same way?"

"No, the Japanese fleet also suffered a lot of damage. These injuries cannot be repaired in India or Singapore, so they can only return to their homeland." Nimitz said, "I have a strong premonition that Horitiki will go to Tarawa."

"Tarawa? He has been going long ago, why did he delay it for so long?" Halsey was puzzled by this, "Are he going to take it back?"

"There is this possibility!" Nimitz said uncertainly. "The Marine Corps reported that it was basically cleared out Tarawa, and that it was currently repairing various facilities and consolidating its defensive positions. I suspect that the Japanese army will die."

"That's great, we can catch him there if he does, or..." Halsey suggested uncertainly, "Let's go intercept the midway?"

Nimitz shook his head: "It's probably too late. The Australian and New Zealand side has reported that he has left contact. And it's not known which waterway he was traveling from. It's too difficult to intercept. It's better to go to the direction of Tarava to wait for the rabbit."

"But now the strength of the Joint Fleet is still stronger than us, so it really doesn't matter?"

"Iowa and West Virginia will come to support immediately, and the Pacific Fleet's strength will not be weakened too much." He told Halsey, "Prepare to set out, we will fight a battle and then retreat. If the Japanese are sure that they don't come, we will fight the Marshall Islands. We don't have to occupy it, and it's okay to destroy the defense system above."

Halsey nodded silently: This expedition finally received support from the Langley (independent class). Now the core of the fleet are three battleships and three fleet aircraft carriers (Essex, Saratoga and Langley). There are more than 213 carrier-based aircraft available as a whole. In addition, 6 escort aircraft carriers have been called to protect transportation and supply formations that can also be put into front-line combat in emergencies. Halsey believes that although he is at a slight disadvantage, compared with the situation of the Midway Battle, the strength gap is still within an acceptable range.

He nodded: "I hope we can fight another Midway battle near Gilbert, so that we can get at least half a year of purity. Time is really too precious to us."

On August 20, the rest of the US fleet set sail and prepared to fight a battle with the joint fleet in the Gilbert Islands.

No one expected that at this time, there were nearly 40 Japanese troops under the ground of Tarawa. They had exhausted all their supplies and supplies, and they could only live a meal a day from the previous few days. Even this kind of life seemed to be better in a few days.

"Sir, it's been more than 40 days. The fleet has not arrived yet. The radio station is broken and the food is almost finished..." Major Yamada reported to Major General Shibazaki with difficulty. Now everyone is at the end of his life. Except for Yamada who was injured in his right hand and Shibazaki himself who has been sick, the rest of the officers at the Saga level either died in battle or died of various complications after being injured.

“How many days can the food last?”

"If you have a meal every day, there will be about 3-4 days." Yamada explained in a faint voice. It would take a lot of effort to say nothing. "We can't get supplies from the US military anymore. If we go, we will just die in vain..."

"Sir, fight with them..."

"Sir, the joint fleet will not come. Let's break our collective. It's better than living a life of silence like this. I also hid two grenades."

"Nonsense!" Shibasaki, who was lying on the ground, angrily rebuked, "The chief kept sending telegrams to tell us to persevere, so we must persevere. The battlefield is changing rapidly, and the United Fleet has just returned from Europe. Maybe something happened along the way? It is normal to be late for a few days! Besides, our radio station is also broken, who knows what happened outside?"

"But without food, everyone can only starve to death!"

"Then eat this..."

Everyone was silent after hearing this. Shibasaki was talking about nothing at all. He pointed to two corpses of the US military. This was the US military that he had tried his best to see the opportunity a few days ago. He originally wanted to get some supplies from them, but he didn't expect that the US military was used to the difference between the Japanese army. Apart from cigarettes and a little candy, the two soldiers had no use to fill their stomachs.

Now Shibasaki seems to have put his ideas on human flesh. Although the Japanese soldiers around him were so hungry that their eyes were green, they couldn't help but lower their heads when they heard that they were eating human flesh.

"Are you afraid of death? You are afraid of eating people? If we want to survive, we must do everything we can!" Shibasaki's eyes now are not like a patient, but as terrifying as a wild beast in despair. "Since it is the enemy's flesh, we can eat it..."

After saying that, he took the lead. His body was so weak that he could not walk at all. He could only use his hands and feet to climb over. He cut a piece of meat from the thigh of a poor American soldier with a bayonet, and then carried it on the fire with the tip of the knife to roast it. Looking at the hissing crackling sound on the bayonet, no one dared to look at him. A few minutes later, there was a smell of pungent and disgusting smell in the cave. Several soldiers who were really hungry began to imitate it in the same way. In the end, everyone ate human flesh more or less. On the ground, only the American soldiers died with their eyes and bones... (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!