When the Pacific Fleet entered the Timor Sea, the Japanese intelligence agency finally deciphered the contents of an intercepted American telegram. This telegram was sent by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in the name of President Roosevelt from Washington to the U.S. Forces Stationed in Australia in Canberra, Australia. In the telegram from Commander-in-Chief MacArthur, Roosevelt asked MacArthur to take the initiative to contact the Pacific Fleet to prepare the logistics for the withdrawal, and asked him to contact the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet and Guo Kui to see if he could allow the troops to go on the expedition. The Second Army was temporarily stationed in Australia for a period of time.
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff is a newly established military policy-making organization established by Roosevelt using his wartime presidential prerogatives. This department was reorganized from the Joint Committee of the Army and Navy. It is also affiliated with the Department of Defense and the Office of the President, but is currently directly responsible to the President. Japan People had just figured out the composition and role of this agency not long ago, and realized the agency's status in the US military and political system. A group of senior Japanese military generals headed by Tojo Hideki immediately recognized the authenticity of this intelligence. This paragraph At that time, because of the smooth operation of the Qinling Mountains, the whole country of Japan was immersed in a happy atmosphere. This also affected Tojo's mood and made him particularly optimistic when dealing with military affairs. "The Yankees and Chinese are going to escape. It seems that General Honma has done a pretty good job in the Philippines. Since the combined fleet is unwilling to attack, then it is up to our army to solve this serious problem for the empire. Let General Honma strengthen air strikes. Hasn’t he been complaining about the enemy? Has the dispersion of forces reduced the effectiveness of the aviation force? Now is the opportunity. When the Yankees and Chinese board the ship, launch an air strike to carry out a half-crossing attack. We will definitely be able to severely damage the US military and the cadet army... Tell Honma-kun, this opportunity no matter what We must seize it no matter what, it is best to blow up and sink all three aircraft carriers, so that we can avenge the combined fleet." Tojo waved the decrypted message and spat, thinking of the Army Aviation Force sinking it. The three aircraft carriers of the Xuebing Army, the wonderful expression that will appear on Yamamoto Isoroku's face, he felt proud, and then he laughed weirdly,
At the same time, Chen Shichang contacted Guo Kui a hundred kilometers away through the high-power radio signal receiving and receiving equipment installed on the bridge of the Huangdi aircraft carrier. The telephone contact was at Guo Kui's request. After four waves of Japanese reconnaissance planes appeared over General Si City, Guo Kui became more and more worried about the threat from the Japanese Army Aviation Force, and came up with a bold idea. Before that, the reason why he had nothing to do with the Japanese aviation force was The only way to respond passively is to strengthen reconnaissance in order to let the enemy discover the evacuated troops first or to strengthen the construction of air defense facilities. That is because there is no support from the aviation force. Now that there is the Pacific Aviation Corps, why should he be a tortoise? "Instead of If we are waiting to be bombed by the little devils, we might as well strike first." After consulting on the phone and learning about the size of the Pacific Air Corps, Guo Kui was moved and suggested to Chen Shichang,
Chen Shichang felt very embarrassed at first. Guo Kui provided that there were three Japanese frontline airports that might threaten the withdrawal, located in Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo. The farthest one was Iloilo. Yiluo, based on the current position of the Pacific Fleet, the distance is more than 700 kilometers. To carry out air strikes on these three airports at the same time, the Pacific Aviation Corps can only attack with the entire army. Doing so will bring a huge hidden danger. If the Japanese army launches an air strike against the Pacific Fleet at the same time, it will have catastrophic consequences. Even if this possibility does not exist, it has only been about two hours since the naval aviation force launched an air attack on the fleet. Young The navy cadets, could they take to the air again to fight? Considering these factors, Chen Shichang did not give Guo Kui a positive answer immediately, but said that he must discuss it with Xu Sidong.
"Brother, we don't have much time left to make a decision quickly." Guo Kui said before hanging up the phone,
Chen Shichang immediately asked Xu Sidong, who organized ground crews to maintain the fighter planes on the flight deck, to the command headquarters, informed him of the phone call with Guo Kui, and finally said: "I very much agree with Commander Guo's strategy of defeating the enemy first, but I cannot help but We don’t have to worry about whether the Japanese army will launch an air attack on us at the same time, and the boys who have just fought a battle, can they immediately join the battle?"
The matter was so important that Xu Sidong did not dare to make a decision easily. He pondered for a while and said: "Commander, these are not problems. Don't we have air defense radars? I am only worried about how to configure the escort fighter force." I'm afraid that Chen Shichang can't. Understood, he then explained: "We have a total of two and a half groups of fighters. I thought that at least one group should be left for defense. So how should the remaining forty-eight be allocated? The number of fighter aircraft deployed at the three airports must be different. And because the environment is different, the size of the air defense force must also be strong or weak. Can Commander Guo provide more detailed intelligence?"
Chen Shichang thought of this problem when he talked to Guo Kui on the phone, but what made him regretful was that Guo Kui said he could do nothing about it. Special operations and advanced reconnaissance were once the two tactics that the Xuebing Army was best at, and the Xuebing Army The reason why the Jungle Special Operations Brigade under the Second Expeditionary Army failed to play the role of Langya and become the anchor of the entire army was not because of the degradation of their technical tactics and individual soldier quality, but because the Japanese experienced MacArthur After the high-ranking US military officials were rescued and the Cavite prisoner of war camp incident, they were deeply afraid of the special tactics of the student army and strictly guarded against them. In addition, there were many islands in the Philippines, which restricted the performance of the Second Jungle Special Warfare Brigade in charge of Zhang Liang. , so under the guiding ideology that there was no need to make unnecessary sacrifices, Guo Kui no longer allowed them to continue this type of highly dangerous mission, and instead relied on the Chinese and local guerrillas developed earlier to carry out reconnaissance missions. At the beginning, These guerrilla armed forces have indeed provided great help to the combat operations of the American-American coalition. However, as Masaharu Honma also began to form the so-called National Independence Army in the Philippines, the development and activities of the guerrillas have been greatly restricted. Now, The General Headquarters of the Xue-US Allied Forces has basically lost contact with the guerrilla armed forces outside Mindanao, so naturally it is unable to obtain information about the forward airport that is under tight defense by the Japanese army.
"I have already communicated with Commander Guo on this issue, and this is the information they can provide."
"Then I will obey the commander's arrangements."
"In this way, Iloilo will not care about it. The focus is on Cebu and Bacolod. How about that."
"If we have to implement it, I think we can't let Iloilo go. Iloilo is too close to Bacolod. As long as we show up in Bacolod, we will definitely alert the Japanese aviation force in Iloilo." , instead of waiting for a passive attack, it is better to take the initiative to attack. Commander, do you think this will work? Thirty aircraft will be responsible for escorting Bacolod and Iloilo, and eighteen aircraft will be responsible for Cebu."
"That's it. In order to ensure the suddenness of the bombing, I suggest you fully consider the surrounding environment of the three airports. It is best to sneak over at low altitude over the sea."
"Understood, then I'll go down."
Although the main purpose of studying the Pacific Fleet's trip was to help the U.S. troops stationed in the Philippines and the Second Military Expeditionary Force on Mindanao Island withdraw, because studying the Pacific Fleet was related to the future of the military and even China, he made any decision before The first thing that needs to be considered is the safety of the fleet itself. This is why he treats Guo Kui's suggestions cautiously. Xu Sidong's stance on the issue is similar to his, which requires him to consider how to severely damage the Japanese Army Aviation Forces while also considering We must consider our own safety to prevent the loss outweighing the gains, which will directly lead to insufficient air defense capabilities of the fleet and put the fleet in danger.
Within half an hour, the flight decks of the three aircraft carriers became empty. Forty-eight Whitefins, sixty-nine Tiger Sharks, and fifty-one Chinese Sturgeons loaded with heavy aerial bombs took off one after another. Under the control of Xu Sidong, Feng Aokong, Wang Lucun, and Zheng Xudu, they formed four clusters and flew towards the north-west direction.
Among the four fighter groups, the one commanded by Feng Aokong will be responsible for bombing the Cebu Airport. There are a total of 18 Whiteback Dolphins, 29 Tiger Sharks and 21 Chinese Sturgeons under his command. The bombing target of the other three groups is Bako. Lode and Iloilo airports, among which Xu Sidong personally led fifteen Tiger Sharks and fifteen Chinese Sturgeons to bomb the Bacolod Airport, and Wang Lucun led the same number of Tiger Sharks and Chinese Sturgeons to bomb the Iloilo Airport. Zheng Xudu led thirty Baiji dolphins to escort them.
A large group of fighter planes roared past the west side of General Sandos City. The students and US troops inside and outside the city saw it. Everyone was shocked at first and subconsciously ran to the air defense facilities. After learning that it was a fighter plane taking off from the Pacific Fleet, From then on, the cadets were all excited and proud of having such a powerful naval force. The Americans' expressions were filled with joy and disappointment. Many officers shook their heads frequently, and the more pessimistic ones asked their comrades around them: "Is the U.S. Navy really in decline?"
The senior leaders of the Xue-US coalition were the first to learn about the air raid by the Xue-Pacific Fleet. Guo Kui led everyone out of the headquarters and stood in the yard, picked up a telescope and looked up into the sky. He looked at it carefully and turned around. Regarding Sharp and Pagar, Wainwright IV said: "If the air strike can be successful, then there will be no worries about our retreat. Commander Chen finally adopted my opinion, which shows that he has realized that the Japanese Army Aviation Forces It will be the biggest threat to this troop withdrawal."
Today, not only Sharp, but also Pagar and Wainwright IV, these senior officers of the US military stationed in the Philippines have long been submissive to Guo Kui. Soldiers have always spoken with strength, and the Second Military Expedition The military used their outstanding record to explain to the Americans what a strong army is. As a result, Guo Kui's throne as commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in the Far East became more secure, and Americans no longer dared to use academic qualifications and other criteria to find fault with his plans to replace him. ,
In the face of cruel war, victory is the most important thing, isn't it?
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