"Yes! It's a feint! Zhang Chi glanced at MacArthur and explained with a little provocativeness: "The meaning of a feint attack is that these two attacks are not really attacks!" ”

"So......" MacArthur asked, "where is the real offense?" ”

"General!" Zhang Chi asked MacArthur rhetorically: "If you were a Japanese commander, how would you deal with a large-scale attack by the US military from both land and sea?" ”

MacArthur put his pipe in his mouth, thought for a moment, and replied, "I will send troops out to block the American troops layer by layer!" ”

"That's right!" Zhang Chi replied: "It can even be said that the Japanese will seize the advantageous position in advance before we launch an attack, which is mainly at sea, and they will build fortifications and even build airfields on the island, which will make us spend a lot of time and troops to reach the vicinity of Rabaul, and the Japanese army can make more adequate preparations in Rabaul." ”

MacArthur looked at Halsey again.

Halsey shook his head a little embarrassedly: "During this time, I focused on 'hunting peacocks' and scouting Rabaul, and I didn't conduct much reconnaissance along the islands. ”

In fact, as Zhang Chi said, when the US Navy and Army were arguing about which route to launch a counteroffensive, the Japanese army was already turning its passive into active and actively occupying the coastal islands of the US military from Kuah Island to Rabaul, of which the closest was only 110 nautical miles from Kuah Island, which was even within the combat radius of Kuah Island Wildcat fighters.

Halsey and MacArthur apparently ignored this, and they, including the vast majority of American generals, thought that the Japanese would be demoralized and devastated after Yamamoto's killing.

But in fact, at this time, the news of Yamamoto's death had not yet been announced among the Japanese army...... In order to avoid affecting the morale of the Japanese army, the killing of Yamamoto Isoroku was sealed, and few Japanese troops in Rabaul knew about it, and they only dealt with it internally with the code of "Navy A Incident".

On the third day after Yamamoto Isoroku was killed, Koga Mine took over the command of Yamamoto Isoroku in secret. He hoisted the flag of the Japanese Combined Fleet "Musashi", and everyone thought that this flag belonged to Admiral Yamamoto 56, but in fact Yamamoto 56 was also on the ship, to be exact, it was Yamamoto 56's coffin on the ship.

Therefore, this incident has not dealt much damage to the morale of the Japanese army so far, and if there is any blow, it is that Koga Mineichi still needs time to familiarize himself with the headquarters left behind by Shimoyamamoto Isoroku.

"It looks like we need to step up reconnaissance!" MacArthur said, "We seem to have been careless during this time! ”

"Yes!" Halsey glanced at Zhang Chi appreciatively and said, "Zhang ...... Like you said, we need to know if the Japanese grow grain in Rabaul. Whether they are self-sufficient, and whether they have a large stockpile of ammunition. In addition, we need to know if the Japanese are already taking advantage of our unpreparedness to seize the islands! ”

"If all of this is true if you say it!" MacArthur looked at Zhang Chi: "Then what's the point of us feinting like this?" Lure the Japanese out of Rabaul? ”

"Yes!" Zhang Chi replied.

"Colonel!" MacArthur smiled and said, "You know, the Japanese will probably have 100,000 troops in the Rabaul area, and if they want to, they may bring in more!" ”

"Then we'll grab more islands with them!" Zhang Chi said: "The Japanese can put more than 30,000 troops on Kuah Island, not to mention the attack of the Allied forces in the direction of New Guinea...... My aim was for the Japanese to drag their forces out of the air defense fortress at Rabaul. Turn Rabaul into an empty island! ”

Halsey nodded and said, "It's possible, on the one hand, the Japanese think that we are marching step by step, so even if Rabaul's forces are empty, there will be no danger." They can retreat step by step, and eventually they will retreat to Rabaul. Rabaul, on the other hand, has a large airfield and naval base, and they will form a maritime defense ring with aircraft and warships in conjunction with the surrounding islands. So don't think we're going to go through their defensive circle and attack Rabaul directly! ”

"The point is, how can we attack Rabaul!" MacArthur pointed to Rabaul on the map and said to Zhang Chi, "Colonel." IMHO, your plan is too whimsical. As General Halsey said, Rabaul had a large airfield and naval base, where the Japanese concentrated hundreds of aircraft and an unknown number of warships, and even aircraft carriers. How can we launch a landing operation there? Our warship was sunk by Japanese warships or warplanes before they could get close to Rabaul! ”

It should be said that MacArthur's words are still reasonable, and this is also the reason why the battle for the islands is the first priority to seize air supremacy, and in the absence of air supremacy, warships are the target of enemy fighters......

"We need aircraft carriers!" Halsey said.

"We don't have aircraft carriers anymore!" MacArthur said: "I would like to have it too, but our aircraft carriers are either in repair plants or have just entered service and are not yet fit for combat!" There is no point in even throwing yourself into battle! ”

At this time, it happened to be the time when the US Navy's aircraft carriers were in short supply.

This is due to the fact that the United States was not sure about the combat power of aircraft carriers before entering the war, when battleships were still regarded as the backbone of maritime power, and aircraft carriers were only a kind of floating airfield at sea, from which reconnaissance aircraft took off and landed and attack aircraft that had not yet proven their power. The strategy, tactics, and role of carrier-based aviation are still in the midst of theoretical debate. As a result, the construction of aircraft carriers has not been taken seriously, and some people even think that aircraft carriers are like shoes floating on the sea, because of their huge size, they do not have much survivability, and they will be beaten to the bottom of the sea by the enemy in a few blows.

So when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy had only five aircraft carriers and another five were under construction...... However, during the war, the aircraft carriers "Lexington", "Yorktown", "Wasp" and "Hornet" were sunk one after another, and only a handful of aircraft carriers could be used by the US military.

As MacArthur said, they were either in the repair shop or just in service...... The "Essex," "Independence," and "Princeton" have just been put into service, of which the "Independence" and "Princeton" are the cruisers that the US Navy has converted into aircraft carriers for emergency use in order to make up for the serious shortage of aircraft carriers and the construction speed of the "Essex" class aircraft carriers cannot meet the operational needs, and each of them can intercept only 33 carrier-based aircraft.

So, as MacArthur said, even if they were put into battle, they could not match the hundreds of Japanese fighters at Rabaul...... Instead, they are likely to be targeted by Japanese fighters. (To be continued.) )