Michiyuki Yamada's proposal, which the Japanese army called "Plan Z", was to establish a "system of complementarity between naval and ground bases," which simply means to turn the islands and their airfields into "unsinkable aircraft carriers" without aircraft carriers, in order to preserve strength, strengthen positions, confuse enemy forces, and if necessary, send a combined fleet to engage the United States fleet in a long-awaited Armageddon and other means to delay or even hold the Marshall Islands.

But in fact, Koga Mine knew very well that it was basically impossible for the Japanese army to hold the Marshall Islands, not only because of the comparison of the strength of the Japanese and American armies, but also because of the huge gap in industrial capacity between the two countries behind the Japanese and American armies...... If the US military shoots down one fighter plane, it is very likely that two fighters will fly into the sky, but the Japanese army in the Marshall Islands can no longer bring in a single soldier from the country, let alone fighter planes.

Therefore, Koga Feng's current plan is to delay it for as long as he can.

But sometimes, Koga doesn't know if what he's doing is right or wrong.

If Japan is going to be defeated eventually, then what Koga is doing now is to delay the day when Japan faces defeat as much as possible, which is actually prolonging Japan's suffering and further depleting the few remaining war resources in the country.

If Japan is not defeated...... So, what will keep Japan going? And what will make Japan win?!

Koga Fengichi could only sigh at the sunset on the distant seaside, all he could do now was take one step at a time.

Naturally, the actions of the Japanese could not escape the eyes of the US military.

In fact, the U.S. reconnaissance of Japanese forces in the Marshall Islands had already begun before the end of the Battle of Tarawa.

The U.S. military's reconnaissance of the Japanese army included two aspects:

On the one hand, submarines are approaching various islands to reconnoitre, and this reconnaissance method is relatively easy, after all, submarines are operating underwater, and the Japanese Combined Fleet has been hiding itself because it is worried about being bombed by the US military...... At this time, only part of the air supremacy of the Marshall Islands was actually in the hands of the Japanese army, and the US military had used its powerful aircraft carrier group to greatly reduce the air supremacy of the Japanese army.

This is not an intentional act by the US military, but Tarawa is only about 250 kilometers away from the Marshall Islands, which is within the attack radius of the Japanese Zero fighters.

Therefore, in order for the Battle of Tarawa to proceed smoothly, it was necessary to compress the air supremacy of the Japanese Marshall Islands; At the same time, in order for US fighters to be safely deployed on the three islands of Tarawa, Makin, and Abemama, it is also necessary to reduce the air supremacy of the Japanese army.

As a result, the Japanese coalition warships were only allowed to hide everywhere, and even replenishment in their own ports had to be carried out secretly at night.

The Japanese army was certainly right in what they did...... Warships have lost the cover of aircraft carriers and fighters, and they are almost targets for enemy fighters, and the Japanese army's land-based aviation is so vulnerable, with only more than 100 fighters in total, and these more than 100 fighters are still scattered on various islands.

Under such circumstances, once the US military knows the location of the Japanese Combined Fleet, it will send a large number of fighters to cover the bombers and give the Japanese Combined Fleet a ruthless blow.

As a result, US submarines can rest assured that they can cruise and reconnoiter in the Marshall Islands.

On the other hand, there is the aerial reconnaissance of the US military.

The advantage of seizing air supremacy is that fighter planes can often fly close to or even fly over the islands, and the US military will certainly not be stupid enough to give up this opportunity, and when it flies over the islands, it takes a photo and keeps it for making offensive plans or making operational maps.

As a result, the U.S. military discovered that the Japanese army was widening the airfields on various islands, and even built emergency airfields on some of the islands.

Halsey couldn't help but be surprised when he received this information, because it seemed to mean that the Japanese army would have more warplanes stationed in the Marshall Islands, and these warplanes could be so many that the six existing airfields in the Marshall Islands would not be enough to accommodate them.

"How many warplanes can be accommodated by the expansion of these six airfields?" Halsey asked.

"It's impossible to say for sure yet!" The staff officer replied while looking at the picture: "However, if each airport can accommodate a hundred fighters, there should be six hundred fighters!" ”

This is only a preliminary estimate, because the Japanese army can accommodate more than 70 fighters with just one aircraft carrier, and an island much larger than an aircraft carrier can naturally accommodate more fighters.

After thinking for a moment, Halsey said, "It seems that we can't wait any longer!" ”

Halsey was not in a hurry to start the war, the first reason was that the Marine Corps was not prepared, the 1st Marine Division was stationed on Kuah Island, and the 2nd Marine Division had just finished the Battle of Tarawa, and the two regiments that participated in the battle and suffered heavy casualties were sent back to Hawaii for vacation, leaving a 6th Marine Regiment that basically did not participate in the war to garrison Tarawa. The 3rd Marine Division is being formed again......

As a result, the US Navy, apart from Chinese units, has no amphibious combat units that can be used for landing operations in the Marshall Islands.

Of course, the Chinese army has to be put into battle, because even if the Third Marine Division is formed, it is still a rookie unit with no combat experience, and if there are no Chinese troops participating in the battle, Halsey can't let go, but Halsey thinks that at least let the Chinese troops rest for a while.

The second reason is that there are still some problems in the formulation of the battle plan.

In fact, the battle plan for the attack on the Marshall Islands was drawn up long before the Battle of Tarawa, and this plan was called: Operation Fusiliers.

But here's the problem......

Operation Fusiliers was mostly based on a plan similar to the attack on Tarawa Atoll.

To put it simply, Operation "Flintlock Musket" is an enlarged version of the attack on Tarawa, and the US Navy intends to attack Tarawa in the form of a long-term and large-scale bombardment of the Japanese army, and then easily occupy the islands garrisoned by the Japanese army one after another, so the Marshall Islands belong to the US military.

This plan would not have had any problems before the Battle of Tarawa, but after the Battle of Tarawa, no one would have thought it was okay because the Marshall Islands also had many Tarawa-like atolls.

As Nimitz put it: "Bombing proved ineffective in destroying the Japanese offensive; The hydrology of the Marshall Islands is the same as that of Tarawa, which means that our Hiskin ship will still run aground; The communication problem was also not resolved...... So, Operation 'Flintlock Musket' is bullshit! ”

After much silence, Halsey said to the staff officer: "Inform the Chinese troops...... We need to have a meeting! (To be continued.) )