Halsey's anxiety can be imagined: the Japanese army is pressing, Hawaii, the West Coast, and Panama are all in danger, and he used to say that the Pacific Fleet should not go to war without regular aircraft carriers, but now that it has regular aircraft carriers, it is not yet to fight, and he does not know how to explain to Washington. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Although Spruance sent a telegram telling him to calm down and seize the opportunity to deliver another fatal blow to the enemy, Halsey still thought that if the Japanese army had once again destroyed Panama and harassed the west coast before attacking, even if they had won the battle, they would feel that they had lost a lot of things.

Both Ingram and Nimitz understood his impatience, and after Truman's resignation and Turner's resignation, they also felt very uncomfortable.

However, MacArthur, who was about to take a plane to return home the next day, was still relatively relaxed, and even rarely interjected to say a word about the Navy: "Actually, the difference between the two of you is time rather than the fuel of Pearl Harbor, William, if you are sure that the Wasp can be repaired before the return of the main Japanese fleet, are you not in a hurry to fight the broken fleet outside?" ”

Halsey nodded: "That's true, I hope to eat some of the opponent first when the current forces have an advantage over us." ”

"I suggest you can wait and see, the Japanese are currently on Galapagos Island, even if they come at full speed, it will take several days, right?"

Ingram looked at the chart and silently estimated the time: "At least 7 days!" The actual may be more than 10 days. ”

"What if the other party goes to fight Panama again in the meantime?" MacArthur said with some distress, "Now we are being played by the enemy, who is afraid that he will fight Hawaii and Panama, and that the big men in Washington will fight the West Coast and that it will be difficult for the people to give an account." In fact, this is also afraid, that is also afraid, and it is controlled by others everywhere, so it is better to make a heart and simply let the Japanese fight the West Coast. ”

Of course, this remark cannot pass the test in terms of "political correctness", but in terms of "military correctness", it is in line with the unanimous desire of Nimitz, Ingram, Halsey and others, and also in line with Spruance's cognition, otherwise why did he stand up and speak for Turner? Although many of the United States' defeats in the past were due to the factor of commanders, it is undeniable that a large proportion of them rushed forward to fight each other due to political factors. Turner's words are just ugly, but the truth is correct, so there is only a difference in the form of expression between everyone and Turner, but not in the logic of expression.

"Alright then, I'll be patient and see." Halsey sighed, "I still have to get the crew of the Wasp together, and at least 120 fewer pilots, I would have known that I wouldn't have given Turner that many crews in the first place." ”

"Then Mitchell is completely blind in the Pacific." Nimitz sighed, "It's all my fault to blame me." ”

Pearl Harbor originally had 14 escort carriers, and Nimitz brought back a few more from South Africa and Australia, but it would not have been possible to pull them all out if the Franklin had to be replenished with a shortage of crews and the Wasp had to be staffed with minimum staffing requirements. After taking stock, Halsey thought that he could probably only pull out 12 ships at a time, and the rest needed to stay for training, and now the level of this batch of new pilots, alas, is really hard to describe.

Ingram also figured it out at this time, and persuaded: "William, I have an idea. Since the Wasp will take three weeks to repair and Hawaii is running out of fuel and other supplies, I suggest that the West Coast have enough fleet in three weeks, and then dispatch the main fleet to pick it up and prepare it for delivery to Hawaii. If the Japanese army wants to challenge us, the fleet can respond to the battle at any time, and if the Japanese army does not come, we can replenish the fleet supplies to Hawaii, whether the Japanese fight or not, we have the initiative. Besides, how long can the Japanese hold out in a war of attrition on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean? I'm afraid they're running out of fuel, right? ”

Nimitz's eyes lit up, and he also thought that this was a good way, and he didn't necessarily have to take the initiative to find trouble with the Japanese army's fleet, so I generously escorted the convoy back to Hawaii, didn't you want to break the diplomatic relationship? It depends on whether you fight or not -- then you turn the passive into the active.

Halsey accepted the persuasion and decided to wait patiently.

After convincing Halsey, Nimitz decided to return home: "Hawaii is handed over to the two of you, and tomorrow General Douglas and I will fly back to Washington, and there is a lot of pressure on the Atlantic side. German reconnaissance planes frequently dispatched reconnaissance planes, and it is expected that after a few days of calm, they will fight again. ”

Ingram and Halsey nodded in understanding, "Then I wish you both a good trip." ”

Nimitz and MacArthur's journey back to their homeland was a tortuous one, and since they could not send fighter planes to escort them, they had to travel long distances to be on the safe side, first from Pearl Harbor to Aleutian, then from Aleutian to Canada, and from there back to Washington. And it's not enough to have one plane, you have to fly multiple planes together.

Although Nimitz and MacArthur both believed that it did not matter if they flew directly from Pearl Harbor to the West Coast, both Arnold, the commander of the Army Airlines, and Doolittle, the commander of the Army Airlines at Pearl Harbor, were resolutely opposed, saying that if they wanted to fly directly to the West Coast, they would never approve it! In the end, the two new army and navy leaders had no choice but to obediently obey the arrangement.

On October 6, 7, and 8, when the situation in Panama was at a critical juncture, Tsukahara may have deliberately sent a number of Saiyungai planes to reconnoiter while the main fleet stopped in the Galapagos Islands to recuperate, and then slipped away before the enemy could react -- this game of eagle catching chickens made the garrison miserable.

And the Hawaiian side also began to scratch the blind, because they suddenly could not find the Tsunoda fleet, which further strengthened Washington's doubts, is this fleet also like other Japanese fleets, ready to enter the attack on Panama? Arnold concentrated the army forces of Colombia, Venezuela, and Cuba in Panama, and the troops retreated from the Galapagos and Ecuador, and now there are more than 1,000 planes piled up here.

On October 9, Nimitz and MacArthur finally arrived safely in Washington, D.C., at about the same time as the pilots who had been evacuated from China, reporting to Chennault and his Flying Tigers. After Weidemeyer's failure to win over the British pilots, Chennault gave him the idea that he could win over the Chinese pilots -- many of them had participated in the Hump airlift with the US military, and their technical level was very exquisite, and more importantly, because China was currently short of fuel and did not have any foreign aid to import, these pilots had nothing to do in Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, and other places.

Of course, Chennault has been in China for many years and knows that it is not enough to rely on the United States to come forward to win over, and he has to go through the upper route. Weidemeyer understood this, and he had not learned anything else, but the Silver Bullet Offensive was so slippery that the adjutant often kept batches of penicillin for his emergency use—in China it was better than gold bars, and elegant, and not as cheesy as the yellow canchan. Under the "offensive" of $2 million penicillin, a string of invisible hands stepped up their actions, and soon the "Pioneer Team of China's Aviation Aid to the United States" was organized, and more than 40 skilled flight crews became pilots hired by American civil airlines. What else can someone say other than scold a few words of "Niang Xipi"?

On the afternoon of the day after the two arrived, the Joint Chiefs of Staff held a meeting, but everyone found that when Dewey and Truman came out together, their faces were all blue and obviously not in a very good mood.

Before the meeting, because the Japanese army had occupied the Galapagos Island and threatened Panama, Ribbentrop thought that the time was ripe for the Führer's advice, so he began to let the wind out, and Dewey finally got the conditions handed over by the intermediary, the content was very simple, but it made him shake his head and sigh, and Germany put forward three more demands on the premise that the South American and South African issues were not negotiable:

First, within the Central American and Caribbean regions, the territories of the former European countries will be returned;

Second, the Central American countries, Cuba and Puerto Rico are among the countries guaranteed to be independent by the Cairo Declaration, and all of them are independent, with the United States and Germany exerting their respective influence.

Third, the Panama Canal is managed internationally, and the International Canal Company is established, which is controlled by major powers, including Panama, and the Canal Zone is settled by United Nations peacekeeping troops to ensure security and independence, and warships of the countries parties to the war are not allowed to pass through the canal.

The last half of the third sentence is actually a murderous motive, because only the United States needs to use the Panama Canal to dispatch major powers, and this sentence that "no warship of the country parties to the war is allowed to pass through" obviously deprives the United States of the ability to use the canal for dispatch during the war. If the United States refuses to join the United Nations, it means that there is no one in this "peacekeeping force" who has not participated.

As for the US side's request for the same rights and status as Germany in the United Nations, Germany did not give a direct reply at all, but only said vaguely: "After consultation, all countries will grant the United States an international political status commensurate with its status." ”

If Germany agrees to the reciprocity of rights and status with the United States, then it can now be said directly, and the use of "conformity" to prevaricate shows that Germany is not willing to give the United States equal status at all. Maybe the second can be given, but whether it is a second place a little lower than Germany or only a little higher than Japan, it is a humiliation for the United States, which thinks very highly of itself -- Lao Tzu has a low voice and admits that you Germany and I are equal, and you still want to trample me under your feet?

After hearing this, Truman was furious: "What does this mean? This shows that the Germans have not only swallowed and have not yet swallowed the results of the war, forcing us to admit that even what he has not yet touched wants to take out of our pockets. This is simply a loss of power and humiliation of the country, how can you sign it? ”

Dewey is also helpless, let alone Truman, this kind of treaty doesn't even want to be signed, what is left of the United States after signing? It's really only a corner of the country that engages in isolationism.

Therefore, the joint meeting was held in a very depressing atmosphere.