When they received the telegram from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, MacArthur and Nimitz were also full of sorrow - the United States had been cornered and would be finished if it was not careful. www.biquge.info In fact, MacArthur was initially reluctant to accept the position of Chief of the Army General Staff because he had already done it, and he preferred to command the entire Pacific theater. But Truman sent him a telegram telling him that the overall war situation was unfavorable and that he wanted him to proceed with the most pressing needs of the country, and the latter agreed to accept the appointment.

"How does William plan to use the escort aircraft carrier to attack the Japanese fleet more than 2,000 kilometers away from Hawaii?" Nimitz did not directly affirm or deny Halsey's offensive strategy, but asked, "The escort aircraft carrier cannot take off the heavy-duty attack aircraft, and even if it is returned to the SBD, it can only carry a 500-pound bomb, so the lethality is too small." ”

"General Halsey noticed this difficulty, so his strategy was to carry all fighters on the escort carriers: F4U or F6F, of which the F4U considered carrying a 500-pound bomb, and the 14 escort carriers could mobilize a total of more than 400 fighters, of which 150 could carry a 500-pound bomb." Smith elaborated on Halsey's strategy, a very complex system of tactics:

1. Lure the enemy to attack first in a long-distance contact position: For example, showing up at 700-800 kilometers to induce the Tsunoda fleet to attack, Halsey expects that the Japanese army can send up to 200 attack aircraft to attack (calculated according to 4 Japanese aircraft carriers), and he intends to use fighter planes to consume the Japanese army - it does not matter how many escort aircraft carriers are lost, it is more important to exchange ships for Japanese aircraft and crews, because the downed American pilots still have a chance to salvage and rescue, which can weaken the size of the Japanese aircraft group and even allow it to get closer to its own fleet;

2. Continue to approach and coordinate the attack by land and sea: Since the escort aircraft carrier cannot take off the heavy-duty attack planes, Halsey hopes that the army aviation will send heavy bombers to attack the enemy fleet, and the fleet will take off carrier-based fighters in the middle of the way to escort the attack, and some fighters will carry 500-pound bombs to coordinate the attack, and continue to escort the bombs after dropping the bombs, thus solving the problem of the army aviation bombers without escort.

3. If the strategy of joining the first wave to lure the enemy to attack first is not realized, then close the distance again and prepare to force the attack.

"General Halsey intends to pay the price of the sinking of 5-6 escort aircraft carriers, 150 army aviation crews, and 100 naval aviation crews in exchange for the total annihilation or heavy damage to the enemy's broken fleet."

Nimitz sighed: "William's tactical theory is feasible, but there are many problems in practice. ”

"Tell me about it, I can forward these comments to Hawaii and Washington."

"First, who stipulated that the Japanese had to fight? What did the Japanese fleet do when they found out that the Halsey fleet was out of port, turned around to avoid the battle and stretched the distance? I've made this mistake before, and I hope he doesn't do it again. ”

Smith nodded, he knew that Nimitz was talking about the problems in the South Atlantic Campaign, he fought with Crake at the beginning, and also made several plans, but he didn't think about what to do with the other party's evasion of the battle and hide and seek, and then he was very passive, and Halsey's situation was exactly the same as him.

"Second, this tactic is too demanding for coordination. What if the army air formation and the aircraft carrier fighter group are being formed, and the Japanese attack group pounces? Many times luck is very fatal, in the Battle of Midway, there were Japanese sailors who explained that when our army attacked, they were changing ammunition, the deck was full of bombs, and the power of the explosion was very powerful, half an hour earlier or half an hour later, this kind of thing may not happen, but we hit it squarely. Nimitz sighed, "One more point, the whereabouts of the main Japanese fleet after taking French Polynesia are unknown, which is a very noteworthy focus. ”

"So my opinion is: be patient and wait for the moment, don't attack for a while." Nimitz thought for a moment, "Let them figure out where the main forces of the Combined Fleet are going, and if they are sure that they are not near Polynesia, I can even take a risk and let the TF48 fleet rush through the blockade to Pearl Harbor!" ”

"Sir, this is too dangerous!" Smith exclaimed.

"There is a little danger, but it is not insurmountable. After we finished our rest in Melbourne, the Franklin was at least able to exert its full combat strength, and it was also able to replenish the pilots; The Wasp's engines can also improve. ”

Smith nodded: Australia's shipbuilding is stronger than South Africa's, the Franklin is sure it can be repaired, and the Wasp can be partially repaired and can restore its maximum speed to more than 24 knots; Australia currently has six escort aircraft carriers, from which Nimitz has drawn some pilots and aircraft to the Franklin, and two more escort aircraft carriers have been transferred to join TF48.

In this way, the strength of the TF48 was restored to the level of 2 fleet aircraft carriers (1 of which was not operational) and 4 escort carriers, and although the level of pilots was not comparable to that of the South Atlantic period, it was at least able to be fully manned.

Nimitz walked to the chart and said: "Originally, the route was to go to New Zealand and then go around the South Pacific, which is too slow, but my idea is this, after the fleet leaves Melbourne, it will go northeast, and stand by in the sea between New Caledonia and Fiji, and if it is sure that the main force of the combined fleet is not in the Polynesia area, continue to move northeast, and strive to pass the overlap of the air defense patrol circle between the Marshall Islands and Christmas Island at night, and then it can break through the air defense circle of Pearl Harbor, Even if it is discovered by an enemy reconnaissance plane in the early morning of the next day, with the combination of 1 fleet aircraft carrier + 4 escort aircraft carriers of our army, it still has sufficient self-defense capability. "The overall journey is about 6,000 nautical miles, which is half the time compared to a detour to the South Pacific to return to the mainland."

"The only downside is ......," Nimitz said in an apologetic tone, as he walked up to MacArthur, "to make it difficult for you to venture with us through the blockade." ”

"Haha, it's nothing, you're not afraid, of course I'm fine." MacArthur waved his arms, "The president said, at this point, there is no one in the United States who cannot be sacrificed, and we, the old men who have been fighting all our lives, should set an example for the people below us and let them know our faith and courage." ”

The Hawaii issue was resolved satisfactorily: after Nimitz's counter-proposal was sent back, not only Lehi, Turner, Mitchell, and others in the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed, but also Ingram and Halsey of the Pacific Fleet. If the Pacific Fleet is restored to a combination of 2 regular aircraft carriers + 18 escort aircraft carriers, the battle can still be fought a dozen.

But the Army issue was tricky, and MacArthur, after careful consideration, gave a very different suggestion:

"Although I have served in the Pacific theater of operations and have not fought the Germans, this also means that I can evaluate from a relatively independent and unbiased standpoint. Judging from the course of a series of wars in the past two years, I believe that it is necessary to have a clear positioning of the combat effectiveness of both sides...... I agree with General Clark's point of view: under the premise that the U.S. Army does not have firepower superiority and air superiority, it needs at least three times the strength of troops and relies on a favorable defense system to resist the German attack; In the absence of air superiority on either side, at least 2 times the strength is needed to equalize the enemy's forces; Only with firepower and air superiority can the U.S. Army, with its equal strength, perform better. This is a cruel conclusion, but it must be faced.

As for the current war in South America, I think it is necessary to divide the information received so far: after the enemy army landed in Aracalau, Patton's troops faced an unfavorable situation of being blocked in front and pursuing troops in the rear, which was basically equivalent to being surrounded, and now he still has about 70,000 physically and mentally exhausted, scarred, combative, and disorganized troops, and it is impossible to expect them to fight a bloody way, and I even disagree with the view put forward by some staff officers that Clarke's troops should go south to respond, which will only involve more troops and be finished.

According to reconnaissance, they faced three enemy forces, the first was about 20,000 interceptors who had just landed in front of them (actually less than 14,000), the second was about 30,000 (actually 17,000) of the pursuing enemy who was in hot pursuit, and the third was about 80,000 German troops (about 60,000 actually about 60,000) from the east coast of Brazil...... As long as the first force succeeds in holding back Patton's headquarters for more than 3 days, they will be besieged and finally eliminated.

Therefore, I suggested that Patton's headquarters immediately find a nearby place with favorable terrain and defend the danger, and at the same time use all means to build an airfield, and the army aviation should send transport planes to cover the retreat of the troops, and follow the retreat method of the African campaign - all supplies and equipment should be abandoned, and only men! Consider retreating to Guyana or Venezuela to regroup.

In order to avoid confusion, and to avoid all the criticism and demoralization that may arise from the poor preparation of the retreat from the African campaign, I recommend that the officers explain to all the soldiers and encourage them to fight to the end for their country and to cover the determination and courage of their fellow men to retreat first.

While the Patton cluster is retreating strategically, the Clark cluster must hold on to the area around Recife and build the first line of defense to block the German army's advance to the mainland, and the army and army must send more forces to South America to coordinate the defense. In view of General Clark's intention to return to China as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, I hope that the President will make an exceptional promotion to General Matthew Ridgway as Supreme Commander of the Recife Cluster, whose courage and tenacity will be sufficient to help us achieve victory in the defensive battle......"

Eisenhower carefully read MacArthur's long telegram from Australia:

Truman quickly understood what MacArthur meant:

First, the Patton cluster is basically finished, so let's save as much as we can;

Second, the Recife cluster could not be withdrawn, and if it was withdrawn, not only the Caribbean Sea but also the soft lower abdomen of the United States would be directly exposed to German attacks, which was very dangerous;

Third, MacArthur hinted that Clark's overall vision and strategy were okay, but he was not suitable to lead troops on the front line (which was the exact opposite of Patton), and he was not enough to take on the task of defending Recife, and he had to be replaced by Ridgway.

The crowd quickly discussed the idea......