Chapter 61: Between the Peace and the War (7)

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In April 1945, Germany and the United States did not publicize the Oak Ridge attack without much fanfare.

The United States knocked out its teeth and swallowed it in its stomach, as early as after the assassination of the Führer in London, the Germans announced that they would retaliate, and now it seems that the retaliation is against Oak Ridge, and the United States will gain nothing by shouting and protesting in vain but to increase the laughing stock; For Germany, although the attack on Oak Ridge was an earth-shattering event, in turn it would expose that Germany was developing a nuclear bomb project, which would cause widespread confusion and uneasiness among European allies.

At present, the main German fleet cannot go into battle, but the Beihai and the Avant-garde are about to be commissioned, and with the strength of the Bermuda sub-fleet, the naval strength is not enough to launch an offensive without worry, and it is still certain to ensure sea transportation, and the task of destroying the Anglo-American sea transportation line is entrusted to the U-boats. The Americans almost thought the same way, and used a large number of submarine forces to try to break diplomatic relations in the Caribbean and strangle the German supply system. However, the results of this move by the United States are not as remarkable as those of Germany, not only because Germany's supply system is not as complicated and large as that of the United States, but also because the level of American submarines and personnel capabilities are far inferior to those of their counterparts.

Although the US military can use many more submarine bases than Germany, there are more than 50 submarines that can really operate on the front line in the Caribbean Sea, and they are mainly small and medium-sized submarines, and large submarines are distracted by the Hawaii problem on the west coast. After clarifying the policy of redemption and retreat, the US military traded goods for civilians from the Japanese army on the surface and postponed the time for the Japanese army to launch a final attack, and on the other hand, it mobilized more submarines and planes to smuggle people, focusing on two incoming smuggling of fuel and smuggling personnel.

In addition to the Los Angeles Express and the San Francisco Express, Turner also drew up an air express: he believed that if Hawaii was going to give up, he would not have to think about keeping the remaining war fuel as a trophy for the Japanese. At the same time, he no longer shy away from talking about the issue of retreat, and drew up a great evacuation operation in Hawaii following the Dunkirk retreat, requiring all long-range transport aircraft to evacuate personnel to the west coast at full speed, and transport submarines to carry personnel as much as possible to evacuate when they were on the way. Although it is expensive and expensive, it is still economically cost-effective compared to the ransom fee of $4,000 per person.

Politically, it is more desirable and positive to retreat than to redeem, and even Dewey agreed that redemption is a problem, and retreat is not a problem.

In case of an interception on the way, all retreats were scheduled at night, both for submarines and heavy transport aircraft. The long-stagnant strategic airlift of the US military once again came in handy: Generally, the retreating planes took off at 10 o'clock in the evening, and after flying more than 4,000 kilometers, it was already early in the morning when they arrived on the west coast, and landing was not a problem; The same is true for reverse flights, taking off late at night, landing early in the morning, and putting fighter jets in charge of escorting the last 400 kilometers.

Japan was not very clear about the Americans' actions at first, and only occasionally discovered that they were tired, but it was also a troublesome matter for carrier-based planes to intercept at night, and after several tests with poor results, the combined fleet simply gave up, and anyway, the United States was still providing a steady stream of supplies, and these planes could not transport many people.

The staff officers of the Combined Fleet obviously underestimated the airlift capability of the US military, and although the US strategic airlift unit has suffered repeated losses, after replenishing the units from China and Russia (East Russia), there are now more than 700 skilled units, and the degree of coordination is very ideal (the strategic airlift units are not included in the category of 2,000 combat units), and they can carry out missions twice a week, using about 300 planes each time. Because the Joint Staff Committee felt that the transport volume of C54\C47 was not enough to enjoy and a large number of losses in the previous operations, it deliberately strengthened the equipment of the C69 strategic transport aircraft, and one plane could squeeze in more than 100 people, and 6,000 people could be evacuated in a week; Each small shark submarine can also evacuate nearly 150 people after dismantling all the operation-related facilities, and more than 3,000 people can be evacuated by using more than 20 submarines at a time; of course, the efficiency of submarines is not as good as that of airplanes, and they can only carry out a round once a month, but submarines are safer than airplanes, and they are also more concealed, and they are basically used to transport all kinds of important officers and men.

Since the siege of Hawaii, the United States has ransomed more than 40,000 civilians and evacuated nearly 8,000 officers and soldiers and more than 20,000 civilians through rush transportation.

On the whole, the supply of materials on the island of Hawaii is quite sufficient, because of the existence of redemption and retreat channels, the people have not fallen into a hysterical collapse, and the command headed by Doolittle has carried forward a very high style in the retreat, he decided to leave all the officers above the major general to command and coordinate, and at the same time require these generals to show their faces in front of the officers and soldiers and the people every day to stabilize their confidence, although morale is inevitably reduced, but the minimum system can be maintained.

Personally, Doolittle doesn't want to give up Oahu and Hawaii without a fight, but intellectually speaking, he can't let the entire Hawaiian 100,000 defenders, more people than the defenders, fall into a miserable situation because of his heroic behavior, which will carry a moral burden that can never be unloaded, especially after the Atlantic Fleet was almost wiped out, he knew that it was impossible to rely on the local reinforcement force, and it was basically impossible to hold Hawaii. At most, it can only fulfill his Dulittle honor, and he has not lost his heart to this point.

The repeated defeats at the top level are irritating, and Dewey, who was originally expected by the public, has now become the target of public criticism, at least among the people and in Congress, and the Dewey government's ransom decision has caused a lot of controversy in the government and the opposition. However, dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction, no one dares to joke with the lives of the Hawaiian people, and the result of the final congressional discussion is that human life is the most precious, and the government is not wrong in this regard, it is the lesser of two evils, not to mention that the delivery is still unsalable products in the United States, which are essentially waste utilization, and will not directly enhance the enemy's strength.

The only disadvantage is that under the lobbying of the capitalists and bankers, it has also "turned big things into small things and small things" Japan also knows the quality of these products, and the price is very fierce, saying that it is 2,000 US dollars, but it actually needs to provide 4,000 or even 5,000 US dollars worth of things, and Dulles has thought of a way, and the smuggling personnel have also shared this part of the cost.

Doolittle wasn't the worst, at least he still had the road of redemption and smuggling, and Eisenhower was even more bitter than him

(End of chapter)

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