"Tarawa is strategically important!" "It has the Marshall Islands to the north and the Caroline Islands to the west, and our bases to the south and east, and also happens to be on the lifeline of Hawaii and the United States to the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand......

"General!" Zhang Chi interrupted Halsey's words and said, "I wonder how much information you have about Tarawa?" ”

Halsey couldn't help but be stunned, he felt a little surprised, because Zhang Chi and Halsey have always gotten along very well, and Zhang Chi rarely interrupts Halsey so impatiently.

"We did the necessary reconnaissance on it, Colonel!" MacArthur continued: "We sent submarines to conduct photographic reconnaissance of Tarawa Island and several nearby islands using cameras mounted on periscopes, and photographed the coastlines of several islands in their entirety. and surveyed the shipping lanes approaching the islands on the spot and corrected inaccuracies on the old charts......"

"But that's not enough!" Zhang Chi replied.

"Not enough?" MacArthur smiled: "Colonel, maybe you don't know what kind of island Tarawa and the three islands we are going to attack are, I emphasize, we asked the British soldiers who used to live on Tarawa, you know, Tarawa was once a British colony, and we know from them that these islands and reefs are not only small in size, The area of Tarawa Atoll is only 1.18 square kilometers, and the soil of these islands is poor and sandy, and the rain and sea water wash away there is almost no vegetation, and the terrain is very flat, I think you should know that it is not difficult to attack such an island! ”

Zhang Chi, of course, knew what MacArthur meant...... The poor soil and no vegetation meant that the Japanese had nowhere to hide, and the coral sandy geology and flat terrain meant that it was very conducive to artillery and fighter bombing.

In fact, MacArthur and others also thought exactly the same way, in such a flat and big place, with naval guns or aerial bombs back and forth several times, the Japanese on top died in a few strokes?!

But Zhang Chi doesn't think so......

"I have to warn you, General!" Zhang Chi replied: "The Japanese are very good at building underground fortifications, as we saw in Rabaul......

"Yes, we do!" MacArthur interrupted Zhang Chi's words: "But we don't think they can withstand 406MM shells and 726kg aerial bombs!" ”

"I doubt it, General!" Zhang Chi replied.

Because in fact these bombs did not pose much of a threat to the Japanese troops on Tarawa.

One reason is that the Japanese commander Shibasaki Keiji had already predicted that one day when the American army attacked Tarawa, Tarawa would inevitably encounter unprecedented heavy bombardment, so he commanded the sappers to strengthen the fortifications with coconut trees and coral sand, all artillery bunkers were covered with steel plates and thick coral sand, and the fortifications on the whole island formed a complete defense system after 15 months of construction, and its solidity can be described as an iron wall.

Shibasaki Keiji thus boasted that the Allies would not be able to capture Tarawa in a hundred years with a million men.

Another reason is because of the coral sandy geology on Tarawa...... This geology was seen by MacArthur as an advantage for the Allied offensive, but it caused great trouble for the Allied offensive.

As soon as the coral sand is blown up by artillery, fine dust particles will be formed, and these dust particles will envelop the sky over the island to form natural smoke bombs, so that US warplanes and warships cannot see the target at all, and the land attack will easily lose its direction, and more seriously, it will ...... The coral sand is also very prone to ricochet, and a large part of the shells fired from the American warships hit the island and did not explode on the island, but took off into the sea on the other side.

Of course, none of these US military parties, including MacArthur, knew about it, and Zhang Chi didn't know what to say.

"Oh, you doubt?!" MacArthur raised his head haughtily, smiling without saying a word, and that expression made Zhang Chi have the urge to rush up and kick him.

"Zhang ......," Halsey interjected, "In this regard, I am in agreement with General MacArthur, because we have enough superiority that I believe we will crush the Japanese army in Tarawa like an ant!" ”

"Our strengths?"

"Yes!" Halsey replied: "Maybe you don't know, at this time we already have eleven main aircraft carriers, if you include your 'Pinghai', then there are twelve ships, and there are eight escort aircraft carriers, and even we have a new type of fighter, a new type of fighter specially designed to deal with the Zero War." Of course, we don't plan to use it lightly in this campaign! ”

"Oh!" Hearing this, Zhang Chi understood.

The Essex-class aircraft carriers of the United States have already been put into service, and it only takes 14 to 16 months for this large-scale aircraft carrier to be launched, coupled with the full mobilization of the industrial potential of the United States, so a large number of them have been launched.

In other words, at this time, the United States surpassed Japan in terms of aircraft carriers in terms of quality and quantity, and in addition, there was a new type of fighter "Hellcat", which gave the US Navy great confidence.

"On the army side......," Halsey continued, "because the 1st Marine Division has returned to China to recuperate, and the 2nd Marine Division does not have much experience in landing warfare, so I hope that your new 1st Division can take on the main attack mission!" ”

The 2nd Marine Division was the only US amphibious unit available to Halsey at this time, but the division was not in very good shape now, because they were mainly training in jungle warfare during their seven-month recuperation in New Zealand...... This is because of the lessons learned from the previous Battle of Kuah Island, and the US Marine Corps officers thought that most of the future battles would be like jungle battles like Kuah Island, and who would have thought that they would encounter Tarawa in coral sand terrain next.

What is even more serious is that many officers and men of the 2nd Marine Division still maintain a deep attachment to the quiet and beautiful New Zealand, and some of them are still married and started families there...... American GIs are like that, they leave seeds wherever they go.

In other words, the officers and men of the 2nd Marine Division have not even recovered from that state, and they need a period of adaptation, so Halsey plans to use the new 1st Division as the main force and the 2nd Marine Division as the reserve.

Halsey originally thought that this was not a problem at all, because Zhang Chi and the Chinese troops had made the impression that they had never been afraid of war.

But this time......

"No!" Zhang Chi thought about it for a while, and then replied, "I refuse to carry out this order!" (To be continued.) )