After the Battle of Zitu Island! After the situation on the Pacific battlefield, Sokura Akihiro hides "※

Although the Republic's Navy repeatedly postponed its operations to attack the main islands in the eastern Hawaiian Islands due to the attack on the Fiji Islands, from the perspective of the entire battle situation, when the Republic's Navy advances eastward, it will not have much impact on the situation on the Pacific battlefield. To be precise, when the Republic's Navy, based on Midway Island, dispatches a large number of attack submarines to the east Pacific Ocean and allows the fleet to move south to open up the maritime route to the Fiji Islands, even if the US military can send its main fleet to the Pacific Ocean again, it will be difficult to reverse the situation.

Judging from the situation at that time, it was not the Battle of the Fiji Islands that affected the navy's entry into the American continent.

As mentioned earlier, the Battle of Fiji Islands was the most tragic battle on the Pacific battlefield and the longest-lasting island battle. Its tragic level was comparable to the Battle of Guadalam in World War II, and even more than that. The problem is that in the second half of the year, especially after the Battle of Midway, the impact of the Battle of Fiji Islands on the entire Pacific battlefield was no longer so obvious. For example, the Marines invested the close force of a land brigade in the Fiji Islands, and at that time, the total number of troops was nearly 10,000.

The total strength of the land brigades owned by the Heguo Marine Corps is more than 40,000. Among the remaining forces, even if the troops stationed in turn are deducted, the number of officers and soldiers who are equivalent to the number of land brigades, and the maximum strength of attacking the eastern islands of the Hawaiian Islands is 10,000. The situation of other military branches is similar. For example, the only force that HNA has in the direction of the Fiji Islands is the only force of participating in the battle (equivalent to combat forces, gills). It can be seen that the key to attacking the main islands in the eastern Hawaiian Islands is not enough force.

Based on the situation at that time, the main focus was on strategic choices.

When the Republic's Navy and Marines attacked the Fiji Islands, in another direction in the southwest Pacific, the Republic's Sky Army's strategic bombing operation also reached a climax. Based on the results achieved in the previous few months, at the end of August, the Republic's Sky Army formulated a very detailed war plan, which is expected to basically complete the bombing mission at the end of the year, and end the bombing operation at the latest at the end of the first quarter of the year. To this end, the Sky Army put forward clear requirements for support and support, which mentioned that the second fifth-generation maritime base would be obtained by the end of the year. The problem is,

According to the navy's construction plan, the Shennong (the third fifth-generation maritime base) will not be in service until two injuries and will not be put into service at the end of the first quarter of the year. Affected by this, in the month of the year, the Navy sent the Nujuan, Kuye Island, Changxing Island and Yongxing Island sea bases to the southwest Pacific, forming two large maritime base groups to provide support to the Sky Army. In other words, after the Marine Corps occupied Midway Island, there was no fifth-generation maritime base in the Central Pacific. The lack of a maritime base means a lack of reliable support points.

In comparison, the Republic's authorities had a greater impact on the allocation and mobilization of strategic materials. According to the combat records of the Republic's Sky Army, by the end of the third quarter of the fourth year, that is, the end of the month, all kinds of combat materials in nearly pyrogenic tons, including about 40,000 tons of ammunition were consumed on the battlefield in the southwest Pacific. According to the combat plan of the Sky Army, by the end of the strategic bombing, the pyrogenic tons of materials will also be consumed.

Of course, strategic blockade is not just about laying out mines.

Because the Marines were to support the attack on the Haway-Jia Islands, the Navy sent all combat fleets to the Central Pacific in the middle, and only retained several regional escort fleets led by multi-purpose destroyers in the southwest Pacific. Therefore, when performing strategic bombing missions, the strategic bomber troops of the Republic's Sky Army had to perform strategic blockade missions, that is, cooperate with the fleet and submarines to intercept all fleets headed to Australia and New Zealand. Although the main force of intercepting is submarines, especially those small attack submarines that operate in clusters, small attack submarines are limited in performance when dealing with fish with a speed above Fengjie. Often, they have to call for air support if they are not used. At this time, strategic bombers with super-flight speeds are useful.

According to statistics from the Republic's Tianjun, by the end of the year, the ammunition used in sea-making operations exceeded 100 million tons, and most of the time, it was to use expensive heavy anti-ship missiles to deal with small freighters with displacements below Dankang tons and not carry much valuable materials.

It can be seen that the biggest impact on the navy's offensive operations in the Central Pacific at that time was that strategic bombing consumed too much material, which forced the Republican authorities to make careful calculations. Not to mention anything else. At the end of July 2014, it took 6 to prepare for combat materials to attack Oahu.

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Affected by this, the top leaders of the Republic have had differences on whether to attack the eastern islands of the Hawaiian Islands.

Because in the combat operations of attacking Midway Island and strategic bombing against Australia and New Zealand, the group of maritime bases with the fifth-generation maritime bases as the core showed strong strategic support capabilities, which was no worse than the military bases on the islands in the main aspects, and could be deployed flexibly. It could also support strategic offensive operations from sea to land. Therefore, at the end of July 2018, the Republic's Navy submitted a combat plan, that is, to abandon the combat operations of Oahu, to bomb and blockade, so that Pearl Harbor completely lost its military base capabilities, and then directly attacked the American continent. In this plan, the Navy proposed specific tactical indicators, that is, only three maritime base groups were needed to meet the combat requirements. More importantly, according to the navy's construction regulations, if the sea base module ship is concentrated, the fastest will be obtained at the end of the year.

This ability can be said to be a very attractive plan, because according to the previous combat plan, even if you attack Oahu, it will take until the end of the year to attack Pearl Harbor. Although this plan did not advance the time to occupy Pearl Harbor, it was possible to allow the troops originally used to attack Oahu to do more important things during this period, such as occupying the Ryan Islands between the Hawaiian Islands and the Fiji Islands, the Phoenix Islands and the Samoa Islands, driving the US troops out of the Pacific Ocean, and creating better conditions for the next march to the American continent. Of course, you can also advance east from the Fiji Islands. Capture Tonga and Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific, and open up a route to the Magellan Strait. Establish a second maritime route to the South Atlantic Ocean, creating better opportunities for the future northward from the South Atlantic Ocean.

In short, it is not a bad thing for the Republic Navy to not attack Oahu immediately.

In fact, this is not a bad thing for the Marine Corps. After all, sweeping away many islands within tens of millions of square kilometers is much easier than attacking several islands held by hundreds of thousands of American troops.

Affected by this, starting from the beginning of the month of Tianniankou, the Republic adjusted its offensive strategy on the Pacific battlefield.

By the end of that year, within about four months, the Republic's Navy and Marines had captured dozens of islands in the Central and South Pacific. In addition to annihilation and capturing tens of thousands of American officers and soldiers, they also controlled most of the Pacific Ocean and pushed the front line eastward for thousands of kilometers.

The most intense battle for these islands was the Battle of Upolu. On this island belonging to the Samoan Islands, the Republic Marines and the United States Marines invested 30,000 and 20,000 troops respectively. The battle fought Feng Tian and the Republic Marines finally suffered heavy casualties. The heavy price of the rest of the officers and soldiers wiped out the US troops on the island and occupied this crucial island.

The reason why the US military defended Upolu Island is very simple. It is the rear of the Fiji Islands, or it is the only place to go from the west coast of the United States to the Fiji Islands. At that time, all the US troops who reinforced the Fiji Islands had to stay here, and then replace them with a faster small ship (mainly large hovercraft and sea-effect ship) to the Fiji Islands. The fleet that transported troops and supplies would also stay here and then return to the United States. From this, it can be seen that losing Upolu Island is equivalent to losing Fiji Island. This is why three months after the Republic Marines occupied Upolu Island, the US troops on the Fiji Island were hopeless to reinforce.

There was no way to retreat and surrender to the Republic Marines, which had an absolute advantage. Unfortunately, during the battle for Upolu Island, the Republic Marines were attacking the Fiji Islands with all their might, and it was the most difficult time for the battle for Fiji Islands, so the battle for Upolu Islands was ignored by many people and did not receive the attention it deserved. It was not until decades after the war that war historians overturned the island battle that was crucial but forgotten for decades, and made many Marine officers and soldiers who died on this island, as well as many soldiers who were disabled for life.

Apart from the tragic battles on Upolu Island, the US military had almost no effective resistance on other islands.

Of course, this does not mean that the Republic's Navy controls the entire Pacific Ocean.

Strategically speaking, by the end of the year, the battle on the Pacific battlefield had ended. Although at this time, the Republic Marines still did not board Wajiu and did not occupy it except Zhongtu. Other islands in the Waii Islands, some Pearl Harbor, have turned into ruins under the continuous attack of the Republic's Navy, and have lost its ability to be a military base. More importantly, the existence of the US Navy in the Pacific is close to zero, except for those attack submarines that can operate concealedly. The only remaining combat fleet, namely the Air Fleet, has retreated to the west coast and has been huddled in the port. It has no ability to compete with the Republic's Navy for sea control.

From the beginning of the year when the United States joined the war and achieved absolute strategic advantages at the end of the year, it took nearly three years for the Republic's Navy to achieve a preliminary victory on the Pacific battlefield.

The problem is that initial victory does not mean final victory, and there is still a long way to go before the real victory.

Entering Jinnian, the Republic's Navy and Marine Corps did not slow down their offensive pace and continued to advance eastward in the vast Pacific Ocean. Yuedao Day. After about 3 months of careful preparation, the First Army of the Republic's Marine Corps (at the end of the Tiannian year, the Republic's Marine Corps adjusted the number of combat troops according to the theater. Each theater was an army, with the odd number in the Pacific direction and the even number in the Indian Ocean direction. Therefore, all the Marine Corps on the battlefield in the Central Pacific were organized into the First Army, while the Third Army in the Southwest Pacific) and with the support of the naval fleet and the maritime base, they boarded Christmas Island in the Ryan Islands and fired the first shot of the Jin-Spring offensive in the spring of the year.

Mu Yong doubted that this was a very difficult island battle.

As we all know, after the fall of the Fiji Islands, in addition to continuing to defend Oahu, if the U.S. military wants to delay the time for the Republic's army to land on the American continent, it must open the defense line. Christmas Island in the Ryan Islands is one of the largest islands within 0 kilometers south of the Hawaiian Islands, and it is also the most important support point for the defense barrier of the American continent. More importantly, after Oahu lost its military value, the U.S. military must rely on Christmas Island. It must guard this coral island to block the progress of the Republic Marines here.

In fact, it was precisely this that the Republic Marines took only three months to prepare for this landing operation.

In order to capture this island, the Republic Marine Corps not only dispatched more than 50,000 officers and soldiers from three land brigades, but also hoarded combat supplies that were enough to allow these three brigades to fight for three months. More importantly, Christmas Island is vast to the east, and there are few islands in the East Pacific (to the east of Christmas Island, the closest one is Clipperton Island 0 kilometers away). If the Republic Navy wants to march into Central America, in addition to supporting the Marines to occupy Christmas Island, it also has to send combat fleets into the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Taking control of the sea power and preparing for the march to the continent of America. This is why when the Marine Corps attacked Christmas Island, the Navy also sent three combat fleets (2 of which were the main fleets. And they were all main fleets with the "Han" class battleships as the core) to participate in the combat operations.

Even so, the battle for Christmas Island is still very fierce.

According to the funds and punishments announced after the war, in the battle for Christmas Island, the intelligence agencies of the Republic made a very serious mistake, that is, the estimated US troops to defend the island were severely distorted. At that time, there were about 50,000 US troops on the island, while the Military Intelligence Bureau's assessment data was less than 30,000. Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on the intelligence agencies. After all, no intelligence agencies can guarantee that the intelligence provided has no problems. Judging from the deployment of the US military, the main reason for the distortion of intelligence was that after the Battle of Upolu Island, at least one land combat division's troops remained on Christmas Island and failed to reach Upolu Island (this is true that the battle for Upolu Island ended in Feng Tiannei).

In short, this mistake extended the time of the offensive and defensive battle in Christmas Island from the planned Blade to the West.

Mu Yong suspected that the Republic Marines paid a very high price on this island. According to the Marines' combat records, when the last batch of US troops surrendered, a total of the Marines were injured and killed, including 7 young people and nearly 10,000 disabled. Although compared with the casualties of the US military, the Republic Marines did not have much casualties, but compared with the previous island battles, the Republic Marines still paid such a heavy price when they had the advantage of military strength, firepower and sea control, which must have a lot to do with intelligence.

Affected by this, the Marines postponed the Third Army's attack on Rarotonga by 2 months.

In fact, this change has caused the Marines' strategic plan to be difficult in Judgment, or had to adjust the offensive operations of that year.

Of course, it is not meaningless to adjust combat operations, at least saved the lives of thousands of Marine soldiers. According to information published after the war, at the beginning, the Military Intelligence Bureau estimated that Rarotonga, the largest island in the South Cook Island, had only about 10,000 US military officers and soldiers, and most of them were non-combatants. After all, before that, Rarotonga was just a secondary military base for the US military in the South Pacific. In addition to serving long-range maritime patrol aircraft, it mainly provided support for attack submarines that carried out disruptive operations and provided support for the escort fleet when necessary. However, after delaying the attack plan, the Military Intelligence Bureau was based on

The newly received information increased the evaluation data to the Weigong people. The actual situation is that there were about four U.S. troops deployed on Rarotonga at that time. Although they were a little less than the previously estimated flying men, they were much more fierce and more people than the earliest estimated. It is precisely because of this that when the combat plan was revised, the Marine Corps increased the expected investment from one land brigade to three land brigades. They doubled the support force, that is, two fire support fleets assisted the attack. If there was no such adjustment, it is conceivable that Rarotonga Island, this island, which was not originally a fortress, would become the burial place for thousands of Marine Corps officers and soldiers.

Thanks to correct intelligence and decisive decision-making, in the battle for Rarotonga, the Republic Marines created the best results in the battle for many islands on the Pacific battlefield. They did not have the slight cost of casualties between famous officers and soldiers, and wiped out more than 20,000 US officers and soldiers on the island. The battle for the Republic Marines and the US ground forces were only B.

By mid-April, the first and second army were well occupied by Cha Dan Island and Rarotonga Island! Later, the land and the land launched a new round of offensive operations. The two armies advanced side by side on the two fronts, and occupied Malden Island and Flint Island in the end of May and early June. They achieved a strategic meeting in the Southeast Pacific.

At this time, continuing to march became a political issue, or diplomatic work, because the one that blocked the Marines' march route of the Republic were Polynesia, which belonged to France, and then the Pitcairn Islands, which belonged to Britain.

For the Republican army, the best result is of course the march into the Pitcairn Islands from French Polynesia.

To this end, as early as the beginning of the year, the Republic's authorities had contacted France and proposed the request to lease French Polynesia. In order to allow the French authorities to relax, they were to provide military bases. The Republic not only proposed to pay hard currency, but also stated that it could improve the status of European legions in combat operations in the North Atlantic. In short, with the circumstances at that time, the Republic's authorities did not need to turn against France.

To put it bluntly, it doesn’t matter whether French Polynesia is used as a springboard to enter the Pitcairn Islands.

It can even be said that it doesn't matter whether to attack the Pitcairn Islands.

That's why, when the Republic's authorities were carrying out diplomatic efforts, the Republic Marines were also launching combat operations to directly attack the Pitcairn Islands, and even intend to cross the Pitcairn Island, directly march into Easter Island, and then use it as a base to march into South America. Of course, from the perspective of ease of offense, the Marines still have to place hope for diplomatic negotiations. At least the French authorities must let the Republic's fleet pass through French Polynesia.

In fact, the French authorities have no reason to oppose the Republic.

Not to mention, after Christmas Island and Rarotonga fell into the hands of the Republic's army, even if France controls the Republic's army's must-pass place to march into South America, the Republic does not need to make too much concessions to France on this issue. It can even directly send troops to control Polynesia. From the overall situation, on the premise that the Republic will definitely win the Pacific War, France has no reason to oppose the Republic's combat operations in the Pacific as an allies of the Republic, and thus cause fatal harm to France's fundamental interests.

At the end of May of the year, French authorities agreed to assist the Republic in combat operations in the Southeast Pacific.

Of course, the French authorities did not just open the military base in French Polynesia. After all, there were not many decent military bases on this archipelago located in the corner of the world. At that time, the French government did a very critical thing, that was, lobbying the British government and asking the British authorities to issue a surrender order to the garrison of the Pitcairn Islands to save the lives of thousands of British soldiers. In order to convince the arrogant British, the French authorities obtained a guarantee in the Republic that the British army surrendered and would effectively protect the basic rights of British prisoners of war. Of course, the French authorities also made a guarantee when they contacted the British government. That is, France would make a request to the Republic to take care of British prisoners of war and ensure the lives of all British soldiers during the war.

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The problem is that those who were captured at that time, or destined to be captured, were not just those who were captured like many British troops on the Pitcairn Islands.

According to the war report released by the Republic authorities, by the end of May 20, more than 10,000 British troops were captured on the battlefield, and at least 10,000 were in the prisoner-of-war camps in the Republic. In other words, the British government demanded not only the life rights of many British soldiers, but also the basic rights of hundreds of thousands of other captured officers and soldiers.

It can be said that this is also the biggest difference between France and the Republic on the issue of war.

By the end of May of the year, when France made concessions, the Republic's authorities only agreed to hand over the captured officers and soldiers of the European member states of the West Order Group, including Britain, to France, Germany and other European continental countries in steps. They also required France to guarantee that the prisoners would not be repatriated during the war, and after the war ended, the prisoners of war would be repatriated in batches according to the requirements of the Republic.

That's why the British authorities will allow the defenders of the Pitcairn Islands to stop resisting if necessary.

Affected by this, on June 2018, the vanguard of the Third Army of the Republic of Marine Corps boarded Pitcairn Island without any threat. Among the many British officers and soldiers, only Colonel Bruce, the highest commander of the defenders, swallowed his gun and committed suicide after giving the order to surrender. The rest of the officers and soldiers became prisoners of war without any resistance.

It can be said that this is a rare scene on the Pacific battlefield.

Of course, for both officers and soldiers, this is definitely the best way to truce.

By this time, the Republic is one last step away from controlling the entire Pacific Ocean.

The problem is that after the Marines arrived at the Pitcairn Islands and controlled several nearby major islands, such as the Desi Island in the east and Henderson Island in the northeast, they did not rush to march into Easter Island. The reason is very simple. After occupying the Pitcairn Islands, the logistics supply line of the Republic Marines had reached 4,000 meters long. Even if they set out from the Fiji Islands, they were still receiving fierce and kilometers. The biggest problem with continuing to march was not whether the offensive forces were enough or whether the fire support fleet was strong. It was whether there was a way to protect this long logistics supply line.

More importantly, this logistics supply line is not safe.

At the beginning of the year, due to the full outbreak of US war production potential, the number of US attack submarines operating on the Pacific battlefield increased by twice the total, with a total of more than the sacrificial ships. Most of them were small attack submarines with displacement below the sacrificial ships, and most of them performed missions. What’s more serious is that because the battlefield was scattered and the escort force of the Republic’s Navy was relatively weak, the combat loss rate of US attack submarines decreased. In addition, the powerful production force, by the young and middle of the year, the number of US attack submarines in the Pacific increased by four compared with the beginning of the year. Although most of these submarines did not have anti-submarine capabilities, they could only attack surface ships, especially those small attack submarines with no self-defense capabilities, that is, submarines with low combat capabilities, but the huge number made up for the quality gap, making the Republic’s several strategic support lines in the Pacific fragile.

There is no doubt that this one in the South Pacific

Affected by this, at the end of June of the 2nd year, the Republic's Navy began to strengthen its anti-submarine combat investment and sent anti-submarine warships originally sent to cover amphibious fleets, fire support fleets and transport fleets to carry out "hunting missions", which made the Marines unable to obtain sufficient anti-submarine support, and they could not continue their attack.

Of course, the Marine Corps also participated in anti-submarine operations, such as building anti-submarine patrol aircraft bases on controlled islands.

In short, by the second half of the year, the Republic's focus on the Pacific battlefield changed from strategic offense to "strategic anti-submarine". The typical tactic is "hunting", a tactic specifically used to deal with small US attack submarines is not complicated. That is, a special transport fleet acts as bait, allowing high-speed anti-submarine warships to operate in concert with faster anti-submarine patrol aircraft to encircle and suppress the deceived US attack submarines.

It can be said that this is a combat action that has to be taken in the absence of anti-submarine power.

According to the navy's strategic regulations, by the beginning of the year, with more anti-submarine warships entering service, there is no longer a need to use this key encirclement method to deal with US submarines.

The problem is that in the second half of the year, anti-submarine is still put in the top priority.

To deal with 0 submarines, it is definitely not very meaningful to deploy anti-submarine forces on the Pacific Ocean, which is close to the 1 square kilometers square kilometer of 1000 meters, and to launch anti-submarine warfare operations. Fundamentally, the best way to deal with US submarines is to block the door to the Pacific Ocean. Strategically, this requires the Republican army to do two things: one is to destroy the main ports and shipbuilding bases on the west coast of the United States, and the other is to occupy the Panama Canal. Although US submarines can detour the Magellan Strait and Cape Horn, this route is too long and needs to pass through the Malvinas Islands controlled by the Republican Navy and the Argentine Navy along the way, so there will be no big problems.

Affected by this, in the second half of the year, the strategic bomber unit of the Republic's Sky Army ended its strategic bomber in the southwest Pacific (to be precise, ending large-scale strategic bombing), the Navy sent two maritime base groups and the third maritime base group under construction to the Midway Island waters, allowing the strategic bomber unit to use this as a base to strategically carry out the western United States region.

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The main task of the first phase of the bombing operation was to destroy ports and shipbuilding bases on the west coast of the United States.

It must be admitted that bombing the United States is much more difficult than bombing the United States' allies.

As mentioned earlier, when bombing Australia and New Zealand, the strategic bombers of the Republic's Sky Army mainly used tactical ammunition with a range of about 1,000 meters, and did not use heavy cruise missiles on a large scale. Affected by this, the Sky Army did not reserve heavy cruise missiles on a large scale. When bombing the US mainland, the Sky Army immediately discovered that if the tactical ammunition was used, the bomber's loss rate would be too high. For example, in the first five bombings, a total of near-blade force brackets was used to lose the heart-mounted bomber, with the loss rate exceeding nephew. Under normal circumstances, the loss rate of bombers should be less than that of the hospital. Exceeding the breach means that the bombing loses its strategic value.

The solution is not complicated, it just takes time.

At that time, the Tianjun urgently ordered a large number of heavy cruise missiles, but no arms factory could immediately adjust the production plan to complete the Tianjun emergency order. Affected by this, until the end of the month of the young man, the bombing operations against the shipbuilding industry in the west coast of the United States were not very intensive, and the loss rate of bombers was extremely high. According to the US military's war report, in this period of more than a month, a total of more bombers were shot down (the number of combat losses released by the Tianjun of the Republic was much less than this data, only multiple ones were brewed).

It was not until the old months of the year, with the delivery of a large number of heavy cruise missiles to the Tianjun, the situation changed.

Of course, by this time, the Navy had deployed a fourth maritime base group to the Midway Island waters.

In other words, as long as the Sky Army is willing and has enough bombers, it can dispatch hook-mounted bombers at one time and attack the area at the same time. For the US military, it is necessary to intercept so many bombers. At least the knife-mounted fighter jets are needed, and these fighters are deployed on the battlefield.

Obviously, the United States does not have such strong strength yet. Or it is very unrealistic to deploy cylinder blade fighter jets in the western United States.

By the same token, it is not realistic to deploy a strategic bomber with a concave knife frame in four maritime base groups.

Affected by these factors, the strategic bombing on the West Coast of the United States did not go smoothly. At least before the end of the 2-injury year, the effect of the bombing was not obvious.

Of course, bombing is a matter of the Sky Army and it has little to do with the Navy.

For the Republic Navy, when time is moving towards the end of the year, the most critical task is no longer how to seize Oahu, but when to capture the crucial Central and American regions and occupy the Panama Canal. Affected by this, when the Sky Army bombed the U.S. West Coast region, the Navy was worried about how to march.

Judging from the situation at that time, in addition to landing in Central America and controlling the Panama Canal as the main strategic purpose, there must be differences within the navy on other advance issues, such as whether it is necessary to conquer the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, and attack Canada with Alaska, and whether it is necessary to advance to South America in advance, or as planned, use Argentina as the base. Go north from the South Atlantic Ocean, try to avoid making enemies on the South American continent far away from its homeland, and even avoid fighting the US military repeatedly on this vast continent.

In short, the Navy must develop a detailed and clear war plan for its march into the United States.
Chapter completed!