ps: Today's unit is working overtime, the update is late, sorry, the second will be served later, thank you for your understanding......

So far, the U.S. military has not achieved many results: including the air raids of the escort aircraft carrier formations, the shelling of the artillery formations, and the landing of the army, the casualties caused to the defenders of Cape Verde are probably less than a quarter, and more than 1,400 people under Link have suffered casualties, including the loss of pilots. www.biquge.info More than 400 of the lightly wounded were re-engaged in the battle after being easily bandaged and treated, so that the number of German troops holding on to Sal remained close to 5,000, of whom about 4,500 were members of the Marine Brigade.

In addition to the casualties on the island, the losses of the Germans in other aspects were not too great, all the submarines involved in the night attack successfully left the battlefield, the first attack on the aircraft carrier formation lost 2 S-boats, the second attack on the beachhead A formation lost 2 out of 4 S-boats, the attack on the bombardment fleet and led away a large number of escort ships B group lost 3 more, the entire S-boat force before and after a total of 16 participated in the battle, lost 7, plus the casualties on the rest of the boats, a total of nearly 200 people were lost.

In other words, the German casualties were about 1,600 people, while the cumulative casualties of the American army before and after had exceeded 5,000, which was more than three times that of the German army.

Even so, the American army had to thank the Germans for shelling formations only as the main target. If the third and fourth strikes of the night raid had been aimed at the landing fleet farther away, the US military would have lost not a few warships, but a few people, but still a few torpedoes that had an excessively long range and exploded in the transport fleet, taking away a few freighters with "fate" (the landing craft was not enough for torpedoes to blow up because of the shallow draft). However, no one is a god, and if the Germans are given a chance to choose again, they will still take the main fleet and kill some more American soldiers, which they think is not the decisive factor.

Of course, the Americans' own statistics could not have been so objective, and they believed that they had reimbursed at least half of the German troops on the island, and had sunk about 20 S-boats and two submarines, which had been reported to Turner by the captains and sailors of the destroyers, who had not been able to help misjudging in the darkness of the night and in the midst of chaos.

This miscalculation also seems reasonable: how could the Germans have achieved such heavy damage without so many S-boats? They only know the long range and concealment of oxygen torpedoes, they do not understand their power at all, and if it were American PT boats that had to rely on torpedoes to achieve such great results, it would be useless to increase it tenfold, because their torpedoes were very unreliable.

The sky is getting brighter, and the sea around Cape Verde is calm, as if it were just a nightmare. However, Tenan and Ingersoll don't have the heart to think calmly about the gains and losses of success or failure now, their mood is very depressed, Admiral Ingersoll who was sitting at the conference table seemed to have aged 20 years overnight, his head hung deeply, and after half a day, he asked in a hoarse tone: "Have all the losses been counted?" ”

"Count it out, on the battleship side we lost 2 Elizabeth-class and USS West Virginia, and we also lost several light cruisers and destroyers, plus some freighters......" said a staff officer in a heavy tone.

"So, with the USS California, we've lost a full four—half of our battleships?"

"And that's not all......," Turner said with a wry smile, "Both the Iowa and the Duke of York were hit by mines, the former was in good condition, and the latter was badly damaged, and I am afraid that he would not be able to recover if he did not lie in the shipyard for half a year." ”

"This loss is too great...... Ingersoll muttered to herself, her voice full of sadness, "how can I explain to the president and Admiral King?" ”

Turner and the staff officers around him were speechless, and when the Pacific Fleet was engaged in the Far East, it had been attacked by Japanese suicide weapons and sunk several battleships (including the West Virginia's siblings, the USS Colorado and the USS Maryland). This time, Turner also deliberately emphasized the prevention of possible German suicide weapons in the arrangement, but the German army did not have suicide weapons but used almost suicidal fighting, and the greater losses appeared in the Battle of Cape Verde, and the losses were even greater, which was quite unacceptable.

Now half of the escort carriers have been lost, half of the planes have been lost, half of the battleships have been lost, and half of the Collins regiment that landed on the beachhead has been lost - but the campaign has lasted less than a week, and if the attrition continues at this rate, the fleet will be fully reimbursed here next week.

"What do you think now?"

"There is no other way to report the situation to the Joint Chiefs of Staff...... Go back and I resign and take responsibility. ”

"Sir, you?"

Ingersoll waved his hand: "Playing Cape Verde is such a big loss, someone must take responsibility when I go back, to be honest, I am the only one who can take responsibility." ”

"The problem is that I was responsible for the tactics and the plan." Turner thought for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "We should hold out until reinforcements arrive, and we must take Cape Verde." ”

"I don't think there was much wrong with your strategy, and even you anticipated the cruelty of the war more than I did, and insisted on adding 1 more division and 8 escort aircraft carriers to come for reinforcements, putting these aside, such a big loss is a failure for us. So far, our goal of luring the German fleet to the battle has not been achieved, and if they kill them now, will we still have the courage and strength to win the battle? ”

Hearing Ingersoll talk about this, Turner was speechless for a while, and after a while, he persuaded: "Sir, although the loss of half of the troops is very painful, we must finish the battle of Cape Verde, at least we still have the upper hand." ”

Ingersoll was noncommittal, and at this moment, a staff officer flew in as if he were flying: "Sir, the transatlantic land flight reports that there is no German fleet in the Azorean air defense circle, and Admiral Cunningham has also sent a telegram that there is no trace of the German fleet in their reconnaissance vision." ”

"Coming to us?" Turner paused for a moment, and after a moment said in a frustrated manner, "The escort fleet must be allowed to take off immediately and the reconnaissance planes will determine the movement......

"Let's take off the reconnaissance plane and report the damage to the Joint Chiefs at the same time." Ingersoll sighed helplessly, "If it is found that the enemy army is rushing towards Cape Verde, the current state of our army may need to temporarily disengage and avoid the limelight." ”

Cape Verde was four hours ahead of Washington, and Admiral King, who had received an urgent telegram from the front, had just gotten up at this time, and he had been on duty at the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the past few days, and he seemed very tired, and he was only slightly relaxed after receiving the news of the successful landing and control of the beachhead from Turner last night, and it was rare to get a good night's sleep, but he did not expect to receive an urgent telegram early in the morning, and seeing that the adjutant's face was not good, he vaguely knew that the situation was not good.

However, Admiral Jin was a very dignified figure, and he was reluctant to show his cowardice to his subordinates, so he still asked with a calm look: "Looking at your nervous appearance, a big change happened last night?" ”

The adjutant did not dare to answer, so he handed the telegram to Admiral Kim, and when he handed it over, his hand trembled slightly, as if there was a thousand weights pressed on it.

Admiral Jin suppressed his uneasy mood, looked at it carefully, it was okay not to look at it, and after a closer look, he only felt that all the blood was surging to his head, and under the fatigue of several days, being suddenly awakened in the morning, and the hypoglycemia caused by not eating, this sixty-year-old soldier suddenly turned black in his eyes, and his head was tilted to the side, and the adjutant quickly helped him, and while settling him down, he called the other guards to take the chief to the hospital.

Everyone hurriedly carried him into the car and rushed all the way to the hospital, but it didn't take long for Admiral Jin to wake up leisurely, he was usually in good health, and there was no hidden disease, just now he just fainted under the rush of fire, and after this toss he has completely woken up.

He slapped his seat in the back seat and scolded: "What are you doing here, what are you doing? I'm not dead yet! ”

"Sir, you looked so scary just now, you have to go to the hospital."

"Bastards, bastards, urgent military intelligence cannot be delayed."

"When you were unconscious, I had the others inform Chief Marshall."

"Okay, now I'm fine, you send me back to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I'm going to a meeting, a meeting! Can't afford to delay! ”

"Sir, don't go......," the adjutant cried, "General Mackael said to go to the hospital for a live meeting, and the president was there. ”

Marshall also seemed to be in a hurry, and in a hurry, he told Admiral King's adjutant the news of Roosevelt's hospitalization, which is usually kept strictly confidential, not to mention Admiral King's adjutant, who is not an important figure in the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the cabinet, is not qualified to know.

"Okay."

After Admiral Kim's car roared into the hospital, the doctors and nurses who had been waiting there immediately rushed up, gave him an urgent examination, and finally came to a conclusion: Admiral Kim is fine, just eat a piece of chocolate.

"But, General, you must take care of your rest, so that continuous work will not last."

"Okay, I'll pay attention to it later......"

At Roosevelt's bedside, a special joint meeting was held. Roosevelt was in a very good mood early in the morning: Last night, Admiral King and Marshall telephoned him, saying that the Cape Verde Islands had been controlled by more than 90 percent, and that the island of Sal, where the Germans were entrenched, had also landed successfully, and that as long as they fought again today and tomorrow, they could basically take it. Although the German fleet was nowhere to be seen, he was genuinely happy at the thought of taking Cape Verde, a strategic location. Then the doctor told him that his health had improved greatly due to the days of recuperation, and that he would be discharged from the hospital after a check-up early tomorrow morning if he wished.

The two events came together, which made Roosevelt feel very comfortable, and his appetite was much better in the morning, and at first he thought that he was coming to report good news when he saw the military high-ranking people coming-such as the German army on the island had gone to announce its surrender when they saw the general situation......

I never expected to wait for such bad news!

He frowned and glanced at everyone, took a deep breath, and said slowly in an inviolable and majestic tone: "Marshall, Admiral Kim, Lehi, and Arnold are four people left, and the others ...... Get out! (To be continued.) )