At this time, the reason why the US military resumed the previous two-aircraft carrier formation was because the number of aircraft carriers was not enough...... If a three-aircraft carrier formation is used, nine aircraft carriers will be needed for the three islands, and the US Navy will only have two aircraft carriers that can be put into the center of the archipelago; although there are still many escort aircraft carriers, the escort aircraft carriers can be used for bombing, but if they are attacked, it will be very dangerous, and this is not allowed by the US military, so they can only use a two-aircraft carrier formation. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The other is that the US Navy has confidence in its twin aircraft carrier formation, which comes from radar and the new fighter "Hellcat...... Prior to this, the U.S. military had conducted many exercises with the "Hellcat" with the Japanese Zero fighter captured by Rabaul, and through these exercises, the U.S. military came to the conclusion that the "Hellcat" was the natural enemy of the Japanese Zero, and it would give the Japanese the most brutal blow on the battlefield.

The U.S. pilots agreed, saying, "We tried everything we could to find a chance for the Zero to defeat Hellcat, but we failed." ”

This statement may be an exaggeration, but according to actual combat statistics, the battle loss ratio of the "Hellcat" to the Zero fighter is 1:13. This also shows the advantage of "Hellcat" over Zero.

As a result, the battle between the US aircraft carriers and the Japanese army became to use radar to detect enemy planes and then shoot them down with "Hellcats", so the twin aircraft carrier formations had nothing to worry about.

Facts have proved that this is indeed the case, because the Japanese army did not have many fighters to support the Marshall Islands, and the few planes that were not enough for the "Hellcat" to stuff their teeth can only be regarded as a warm-up for the US pilots and prove that the superiority of the "Hellcat" over the Zero fighters is real. Even the U.S. military discovered during the bombing that the Japanese defense of Kosrae Island was very weak...... Kosrae Island is strategically important, and its airfield can be said to be the link between the Marshall Islands and the "absolute defense ring" to the west, but as mentioned earlier, the Japanese have too many islands to defend, and they can only defend those that are considered more important, such as Eniwetok Island, which is connected to the Japanese mainland to the north. This allowed the US military to launch an attack on Kosrae Island ahead of schedule and succeed.

When the US aircraft carrier formation launched a feint, the New Seventh Army was very busy.

It was not the infantry that was busy, but the tank units.

Most of the tanks of the New Seventh Army remained in Burma before, and they have not been adequately replenished since then...... This is related to the fact that the US military does not believe in the combat effectiveness of the Chinese troops, and they think that it would be good for the Chinese troops to have a few light tanks to fight in the back, and it is a complete waste to give them "Sherman", not to mention that the "Sherman" US army itself is lacking...... This is not to say that the US military really lacks a "Sherman," but that it is not easy to transport a "Sherman" in this distant Pacific Ocean, so the US military has always held a perfunctory attitude toward the requirements of the Chinese army.

But after so many battles, the U.S. military was surprised to find that the truth was not as they imagined, the Chinese army was not only not a supporting role, but also became the protagonist, and this protagonist also saved the war and saved the U.S. army again and again, so the requirements of the Chinese army also paid attention.

On the other hand, the Chinese army's attack on the Marshall Islands is the main force in this time...... Although the 3rd Marine Division was a regular Marine Corps, it did not have any actual combat experience; The U.S. Seventh Infantry Division is simply infantry, amphibious-trained infantry.

For these two troops, Halsey really can't let go, in fact, no one is at ease, not to mention that there is a new Seventh Army with rich experience and repeated achievements next to these two troops.

Therefore, although the operation was carried out by three units, the 3rd Marine Division attacked Kwajalein Atoll, the 7th US Infantry Division attacked Maloelap Atoll, and the New 1st Division attacked Woje Atoll...... However, in fact, the new 1st Division had to take into account the operations of the three islands and reefs.

Here's how it happened: Kwajalein Atoll was the largest of the three and the largest Japanese troops, with a tentative estimate of around 4,300 troops; The Maloerapu Atoll was followed by the Japanese army at around 2,500 men; Voje Atoll is the smallest, with about 1,300 people.

This seems a little strange, how could the new 1st Division, as the main force of the attack, arrange an atoll with the smallest and the smallest number of Japanese troops as a target?!

The reason for this was that the new 1st Division, which was to attack Voje Atoll, was not a single division, but only a reinforced regiment, and the other two regiments were assigned to Kwajalein Atoll and Maloelap Atoll as reserves.

Another reason is that Voj Atoll is located halfway between Kwajalein Atoll and Maloerapu Atoll...... Halsey's idea was that the New Seventh Army would be able to quickly end the battle at Woj Atoll, and then the New Seventh Army, located in the middle, would be able to easily provide support to friendly forces on both sides.

Because the New Seventh Army was placed in such an important position, a lot of equipment was transferred from the US army in an instant.

Needless to say, the number of "Sherman" tanks increased by more than 50 at once, and together with the original M3 light tanks of the New Seventh Army, a combat vehicle battalion was formed. (Note: The standard equipment of the U.S. tank battalion is three medium tank companies, each with 18 medium tanks, one light tank company, 17 light tanks per company, plus 5 medium tanks at the battalion headquarters, for a total of 76 tanks)

These equipment caught Zhang Chi a little off guard, and the tank soldiers in the New Seventh Army were not enough in an instant...... This is still under the condition that the New Seventh Army has been training tank crews without interruption.

So Halsey made a phone call to Halsina and said, "General! Thank you very much for providing us with so many tanks, but we don't have enough tankers, so I think you should make good use of these precious resources......"

"Giving tanks to you is a rational use!" Halsey interrupted Zhang Chi's words: "The problem of insufficient tank soldiers is easy to solve, we can pick out some tank soldiers from the US army as supplements!" ”

So Zhang Chi had nothing to say.

This is a big gift from Halsey to the New Seventh Army, because Zhang Chi knows it...... Although the Yankees are not very good at fighting, there is nothing to say about the technology of driving tanks, after all, the United States is a country on wheels, and they have a talent for driving and driving tanks, and this talent is not something that the Chinese tankers who are "halfway home" can catch up with.

Therefore, these US tankmen who were selected from the US military to supplement the New Seventh Army must have nothing to say about their skills, and they can even bring out a large number of "apprentices", and what needs to be solved is the problem of coordination and communication during combat...... But these problems are nothing for the expeditionary force, which has long cooperated with the US military and has a large number of US military advisers.

(To be continued.) )