"I'm the exact opposite of Smith!" Zhang Chi said: "I think we should attack during the day!" ”

"Attacking during the day?" Because Zhang Chi said this sentence directly in English, the US generals in the conference room immediately talked about it.

"But the Colonel!" Smith asked puzzledly, "If we attack during the day, how can we solve the problem of the Higgins ship running aground?" ”

"I don't know if you've noticed!" ZHANG CHI WAVED THE PHOTO IN HIS HAND AND SAID: "'AVOIDING' THE TIDE ONLY STARTS TO RECEDE DURING THE DAY, BUT EVEN IF THE TIDE IS LOW, IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE WATER LEVEL WILL DROP BELOW 910MM SOON, THAT IS, WE STILL HAVE TIME DURING THE DAY!" ”

(NOTE: THE MINIMUM DRAFT OF THE HIGGINS SHIP AT THE TIME OF INTERCEPTION IS 910MM)

This is judged by the bare degree of the coral reef in the photo, and Zhang Chi has also investigated the hydrology of Bito Island before.

"But even then, we don't have much time!" Halsey replied: "Maybe we have less than an hour, and this is quite dangerous for us, because if we do not succeed in landing, it means that our army will be isolated by the tides, which is very dangerous for the landing force!" ”

Halsey was certainly right, if the target island was not captured within an hour, a situation similar to that of Beato Island would occur, and the landing force would be immobile under the suppression of Japanese fire, and at night it might be annihilated by a Japanese counteroffensive...... Although this did not happen on Beato Island, it was only because the American army was lucky enough to kill the commander of the Japanese army.

"Yes!" Smith agreed with Halsey and said to Zhang Chi, "Colonel, your suggestion is very bold and creative. But...... We know from the Battle of Tarawa that the prolonged bombardment of our warships and fighters could not effectively destroy the Japanese fortifications, so the situation that the general said is very likely to happen, and it will be very difficult to demand that we capture the target island within an hour! ”

Smith also said that it was indeed difficult to destroy the fortifications built on the narrow island by naval artillery and fighter bombardment, so it was almost impossible to break through these Japanese fortifications in an hour.

So MacArthur came to a conclusion, and he smiled and said to Zhang Chi: "Colonel, so we think that your method will not only not minimize the casualties, on the contrary, you are letting the landing force die!" ”

In the eyes of the admirals, Zhang Chi replied: "But I didn't say that it was attacked from the Japanese coastal defense line!" ”

Hearing this, MacArthur couldn't help but be stunned: "Didn't you attack from the coastal defense line?" Are you trying to enter the lagoon and attack from the lagoon? Just like you guys attacked Beato Island?! ”

The admirals couldn't help but be stunned when they heard this.

"Yes!" Zhang Chi nodded.

Zhang Chi's answer once again caused a commotion among the US admirals.

"But...... It's simply impossible! Rear Admiral Smith said: "If you want to attack from the lagoon, the landing vehicles and landing boats must enter the lagoon through the entrance to the atoll, and the narrow entrance can easily be blocked by Japanese artillery fire!" ”

"We can get the timing right!" Zhang Chi replied: "Reconnoiter the hydrology and the time of dawn, the landing force can pass through the entrance of the lagoon before dawn, and launch an attack immediately after dawn!" ”

"There's too much uncertainty here, isn't there?" "Admittedly, there are many advantages to attacking from the direction of the lagoon, for example, the Japanese must have a weak defense because they did not expect us to attack from this direction, which allows us to break through their defenses and even occupy the islands within an hour," Smith said worriedly. But the colonel ...... It is difficult for us to guarantee the reinforcement of troops after dawn, as well as that the landing force will not be surrounded by Japanese fire! ”

Smith was talking about exactly what the admirals feared, as it was well known that the lagoon was surrounded by islands in the atoll, many of which had Japanese garrisons and firepower, and some of the lagoons even had Japanese gunboats...... Of course, these were only small gunboats, which the Japanese mainly used for the transportation of troops between the atolls and for fire support at critical moments.

As for medium and large warships...... The Japanese were not so stupid to park their warships in the lagoon, which was an excellent target for American bombers, and they couldn't even escape if they wanted to.

It is therefore very likely that the landing force that broke into the lagoon would have the situation described by Smith, with reinforcements intercepted by the Japanese and surrounded by natural Japanese fire from the surrounding atolls.

"For the Japanese blockade of the entrance to the lagoon and the encirclement of ...... fire," Zhang Chi replied: "We can suppress it with artillery fire!" ”

"But it turns out that the firepower of our warships and warplanes is not enough to suppress it!" Smith responded: "A considerable part of the Japanese artillery is in the fortifications, and they don't need to worry about our artillery fire!" ”

"That's not because my artillery fire is not enough to suppress the Japanese artillery fire!" Zhang Chi shook his head and replied, "It's that we didn't use the right method!" ”

"Didn't do it the right way?" Smith was puzzled by this, and the admirals also cast puzzled glances at Zhang Chi, they did not believe that this Chinese soldier would know more about the guns of the US Navy warships than they did.

However, Zhang Chi knew that the US naval generals, including Halsey and MacArthur, had miscalculated the strength of the Japanese army.

However, this mentality is understandable.

In the past, the American admirals estimated the strength of the Japanese army too weakly, and believed too much in the power of their warships and fighter planes to bomb, so they thought that the Battle of Tarawa was as easy as walking.

But the reality is exactly the opposite of what the US admirals imagined...... The Battle of Tarawa gave them a hard slap in the face, which knocked down the arrogance of the American army.

Then it is natural for the U.S. military to think that if one Tarawa atoll is like this, and the Marshall Islands is made up of dozens of similar atolls, how difficult will the attack on the Marshall Islands be? How many casualties will it take to take down the Marshall Islands?!

As a result, the mentality of the vast majority of US naval generals has gone from one extreme to the other, that is, from arrogance to inferiority, and they originally believed in the bombing of warships and warplanes, but now they have become worthless as bombing warships and warplanes.

"Generals!" Zhang Chi picked one out of the pile of photos and raised it around: "I don't know if you have noticed that there will be some small islands outside of the main atolls that we are going to attack...... These islets are independent of the atolls, I mean, why don't we, in addition to bombing the Japanese with warships and warplanes, occupy these islets and place artillery on them? ”

(To be continued.) )