There was a world of difference in timing between the two o'clock in the afternoon attack and the original early morning attack. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The purpose of the early morning attack was to seize the law of "avoiding" the tide, and to start landing in the gap when the tide had just dawned and the tide had not yet receded to the water level of the Higgins ship...... The landing force could then land on the Japanese garrison in an orderly manner under the cover of artillery fire and fighter planes, with the landing vehicle as the vanguard, and the Higgins ship following suit.

And it was two o'clock in the afternoon...... It should be said that it is the time to "avoid" the low tide levels, the reef is already exposed to the sun, and the Higgins boat must not be able to get on it.

However, this is not a big problem for the 3rd Marine Division.

The reason for this is that the 3rd Marine Division has the largest number of amphibious landing vehicles, more than 120 units...... This number is much more than the amphibious landing vehicles possessed by the US Seventh Division and China's New Seventh Army combined.

This can be said to be the U.S. military's partiality to the Third Marine Division, after all, this battle was commanded by Halsey, Halsey is the Navy, of course, it will be biased towards the Navy, although the New Seventh Army at this time can also be regarded as the Marine Corps, and strictly speaking it can be said to be the main force attacking the Marshall Islands, but the New Seventh Army is still the Chinese army after all, and Halsey, as an American, will also be biased towards the Third Marine Division of the United States from any angle.

And Halsey has a very good reason...... The target of the 3rd Marine Division is the island with the largest area and the largest number of Japanese troops stationed among the three targets, so naturally there should be more amphibious landing vehicles allocated.

This makes sense, but the real reason is that the Chinese forces are so showy in the series of battles in the Pacific that many countries in the world have turned their attention to the Chinese forces instead of the US military...... This is the case in wartime, when the common people worship who can beat the enemy on the battlefield, rather than who provides the warships, planes, and artillery of these troops. What's more, in the case of the same equipment or even better equipment, the performance of the US military is still far from that of the Chinese army, which makes the Chinese army a star force in the anti-fascist camp.

Originally, this was no problem, but over time it put the US military in a disadvantageous position.

For this reason, US Chief of Naval Operations Ernest even said to Roosevelt: "If the war is allowed to continue like this, many people will think that the Pacific War was fought in Chinese, and we are just providing them with inconspicuous equipment...... Although equipment is also important, it is obviously not so important compared to the lives and combat effectiveness of Chinese soldiers. This could have a negative impact on the distribution of our benefits after the war! ”

The previous words may not be important, because if the Chinese army can fight, then it will also be beneficial to the US military, for example, the US military can buy time on the battlefield, win the initiative, and exchange the interests of the Pacific theater at the minimum cost...... Compared to that, losing some face was nothing to Roosevelt.

But the point is on the last sentence: "This could have a negative impact on the distribution of benefits for us after the war!" ”

Originally, Roosevelt didn't expect this, but when Ernest reminded him like this, he "chuckled" in his heart: "That's right, if you continue to let this Chinese army show off in the Pacific theater, can you still ignore China's interests after the war under the pretext that the Chinese army's performance is too poor?" ”

So Roosevelt sent a telegram to Halsey: "It's time for the U.S. Marines to behave, or others will think that our army is just using equipment to scare people!" ”

This is why Halsey assigned the most difficult Kwajalein Atoll to the 3rd Marine Division during the Battle of the Marshall Islands, and although there was still a regiment of Chinese troops in reserve, this Chinese army would not be used until it was absolutely necessary.

It was for the same reason that Halsey allocated more than 100 amphibious landing vehicles to the 3rd Marine Division.

This is actually a kind of cheating, because an amphibious landing vehicle can carry 25 people, and more than a hundred amphibious landing vehicles means that the 3rd Marine Division can carry 3,000 people with amphibious landing vehicles at a time.

That is, the 3rd Marine Division can completely ignore the "avoidance" of the tide, and they can all use amphibious landing vehicles to fight.

You can imagine what that would have been...... The machine guns on the amphibious landing vehicle easily crossed the coral reef and the coastal obstacles set up by the Japanese army, and then broke through the Japanese defenses and gained a firm foothold on the shore, and then the amphibious landing vehicle could go back and forth on the back sea, continuously transporting the soldiers of the 3rd Marine Division to the island, and then Kwajalein Island was perfectly integrated into the territory of the American army. (Note: The main island of Kwajalein Atoll is Kwajalein)

But there is a saying that "if you lose your horse, you will know if you are blessed".

It is true that the 3rd Marine Division has such a large number of amphibious landing vehicles will indeed give the 3rd Marine Division great convenience and confidence, but it is precisely because of this that the 3rd Marine Division has fallen into a quagmire and is unable to extricate itself.

The reason is simple...... If the 3rd Marine Division did not have such a large number of amphibious landing vehicles and had to use the Higgins ships as the main force to transport troops, the 3rd Marine Division would have had to launch an attack in the early hours of the morning, that is, "avoiding" the tide just after the tide was receding.

But because the 3rd Marine Division could ignore the "avoidance" of the tide, they thought they could not be limited by time, and it was precisely because of this that Halsey agreed with Johnson, the commander of the 3rd Marine Division, who advised: "Wait for the other two islands to attack first, see how they are, and then we will do it again!" ”

Halsey thought for a moment...... Why not? If the actual battle proved feasible to attack from the direction of the lagoon, then it would not be too late for the 3rd Marine Division to attack again. If it turns out that Johnson is right that an attack from the direction of the lagoon is not feasible, then attack from the front, as Johnson thinks!

Even Halsey would have preferred the latter, because it would prove that the Marines were superior to other armies, not just the Army, but the Chinese Army. This is especially true for the Chinese military...... To be honest, it always has to rely on the strength of the Chinese army, which also makes Halsey, an American, a little unhappy.

As a result, the plan to attack Kwajalein Atoll was delayed, and it was delayed without Zhang Chi's knowledge.

What Halsey and Johnson didn't expect was that there would be a serious problem with them doing so......

Prior to this, the Japanese did not think that the Sino-US coalition would attack the atolls from the direction of the lagoon, but after the New Seventh Army and the US Seventh Infantry Division launched attacks on the two atolls respectively, the Japanese were surprised to discover a big hole in their atoll's defense. (To be continued.) )