Rupertus looked at the map on his desk without saying a word, and there were casualty reports scattered like snowflakes everywhere...... He could scarcely admit the fact that the Japanese had suddenly changed their fighting style as if they had changed their ranks. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Don't...... This is the peculiarity of the Japanese in the direction of the Philippines? Rupertes suddenly regretted that he had supported the strategic shift to the Philippines.

"General!" The deputy division commander, Hemel, reported to Rupertes: "A regiment reports that they are in another bitter battle in the Ummerbrog Mountains, and they are asking for reinforcements!" ”

"Report the situation!" Rupertus replied with some distress.

At this time, every battlefield of the 1st Marine Division was mired in a quagmire, and where could there be troops to provide reinforcements.

"Mount Ummerbrog is much more terrifying than we thought!" Hemel replied: "The mountain is a rugged coral mountain, full of cliffs, ridges and caves, and crisscrossed valleys that can be natural communication trenches for the Japanese, and worse still, the Japanese seem to have hollowed out the mountain, and we don't know how many Japanese people are hiding there." ”

Rupertus sighed helplessly...... All the intelligence of the U.S. military unit comes from aerial photography, which may see roads and rivers, but it is impossible to grasp the condition of the mountain range, for example, before this, no one thought that this low mountain range could be easily taken.

"Order a regiment to continue the attack!" Rupertus ordered: "To maintain the momentum, they can only rely on themselves to take the Ummerbrog Mountains!" ”

Hemmel was silent for a moment, and then replied helplessly: "Yes! ”

Since then, Rupertus has insisted on this order, which is to let the 1st Marine Regiment "maintain momentum" and launch an attack...... As a result, the 1st Marine Regiment sent all the reserves it could deploy, including engineers, engineers, and even regimental personnel, to the front line to fight as infantry.

In just four days, the 1st Marine Regiment suffered 1,749 casualties among 3,236 men......

This is not common among U.S. troops, because U.S. troops can basically say that more than half of the casualties basically mean that the force is going to lose its combat effectiveness due to collapse.

This rule does not apply to the Chinese troops, who have suffered countless casualties on the battlefield to the point where only a few men remain. However, this cannot be compared so simply, because this is a US military that relies on modern equipment to fight, and it is rare for it to have such a fighting style.

But the 1st Marine Regiment was on the verge of collapse at this point, as one of the surviving soldiers put it: "We are both indifferent and insensitive. As a combat team, the 1st Marine Regiment is over, completely finished. We have lost our humanity, anything that moves in front of me, friend or foe, I will shoot at him, I have no friends, I just want to kill people, and sometimes I want to kill myself! ”

In the end, it was the commander of the US Amphibious Army, Geiger, who inspected the 1st Marine Regiment, witnessed the situation of the 1st Marine Regiment with his own eyes, and had a big quarrel with Rupertes after returning to the division headquarters, so that the 1st Marine Regiment was replaced.

It's not that Rupertus is reluctant to replace the 1st Marine Regiment, but he really doesn't have any extra troops in his hands...... To be exact, Rupertus was not without troops, because the entire 81st Infantry Division was not moved as a reserve. But as mentioned earlier, Rupertes did not believe that the army would fight at all, so he did not intend to involve the 81st Infantry Division from the beginning.

In the meantime, Rupertus called Halsey.

"General!" Rupertus said to Halsey: "I think you've heard that we're in trouble in the battle on the island of Peleliu!" ”

"Hmm!" Halsey asked, "How do you want us to fight with you?" ”

Halsey was in charge of commanding the navy to provide support to the ground offensive forces, so it was natural that Rupertus would ask this question when he heard what he said.

"No!" Rupertus replied: "I am not asking for naval support, in fact, I don't think that naval support will help us in any way as we stand!" ”

"Then what you need is ......," Halsey couldn't help but wonder when he heard this.

"We need the Chinese, and their troops!" "Their battle on Guadalcanal was impressive," Rupertes said. I believe that they are the only ones who can solve the immediate difficulties! ”

"I have to warn you......" said Halsey, "this is not in the plan, your reserve is the 81st Infantry Division, and you are asking for reinforcements from the Chinese troops, who are even far away in Rabaul at this time!" ”

"I know!" Rupertus replied: "But the general also knows that I am right, the 81st Marine Division will not be able to solve anything at all, and they will even add to the chaos!" ”

"No!" Halsey replied, "I can't promise you anything!" ”

With that, Halsey hung up the phone.

Halsey, of course, knew that Rupertus's words had a point, and that now was the time to use Chinese troops, otherwise the casualties of American soldiers would continue to grow.

But......

Halsey also knows that the U.S. side is likely to protect U.S. interests to the detriment of China's interests...... As Zhang Chi said, Roosevelt lied during the meeting, which caused the U.S. military to change the direction of the attack.

Actually, Halsey felt it was stupid to do so.

It is true that allowing the Japanese to fight a major war with China will indeed consume part of Japan's strength, and may also make it impossible for Japan to transfer its elite troops back to the Pacific theater in future wars.

However, will the casualties of the US attack on the Philippines be small?!

The United States, which could have completely bypassed the Philippines and directly attacked the Japanese mainland and forced Japan to surrender, now has to fight an additional Philippines with difficult terrain...... In the end, the casualties will not necessarily be fewer, but may even be more.

In other words, what Roosevelt is doing now is very likely to be "harming others and not benefiting himself."

Of course, these are only speculations so far, maybe Zhang Chi is wrong, Japan has no such plan at all, and the Japanese army in the Philippines is not bluffing.

But as the battle progressed, Halsey felt more and more that Zhang Chi was right...... The final answer will be revealed whether the Japanese army will launch a large-scale attack on China.

In this case, Halsey was reluctant to use Chinese troops.

This was partly because Halsey felt that he had betrayed these Chinese troops...... Of course, Halsey also knew that these were nothing for the benefit of the country, but Halsey still felt guilty, so he didn't dare to open his mouth to Zhang Chi.

On the other hand, Halsey was worried that the Chinese troops at this time would be rebellious and unwilling to fight alongside the United States.

"If that's the case, that's too bad!" Halsey said to himself, "No matter what, I still have to talk to him (referring to Zhang Chi)!" (To be continued.) )