The New Seventh Army's operation against Woje Atoll was very smooth. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The whole operation was carried out step by step...... Just like the US military fighting in other directions, the New Seventh Army's attack on Wojie Atoll was the same as first seizing air supremacy, then bombing, and then occupying small islands.

The task of seizing air supremacy was to be carried out by the aircraft carrier "Pinghai" and the light aircraft carrier "Cabot" sent by the US military to assist in the operation.

Although the "Cabot" only assists in operations, and it is also a light aircraft carrier that can only carry more than 40 fighters, more than 10 of the more than 40 fighters it carries are F6F "Hellcat" fighters, so strictly speaking, the "Cabot" light aircraft carrier is the main force of the second aircraft carrier formation facing the Wojie Atoll.

The bombing of Voje Atoll was carried out by two escort aircraft carriers: the Coral Sea and the Guadalcanal.

Obviously, the names of these two escort aircraft carriers were used by the US military to commemorate the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Guadalcanal, and Zhang Chi believes that it is quite meaningful that Halsey will send these two escort aircraft carriers to cooperate with the New Seventh Army. This is especially the Guadalcanal...... Its captain, Commodore Nelson, contacted Zhang Chi by radio when he joined the Chinese naval formation.

"Colonel!" Nelson said to Zhang Chi: "Please allow me to pay tribute to you, just as you saw the name of my escort carrier, without your outstanding performance in the Battle of Guadalcanal, I believe that my aircraft carrier would not have such a nice and proud name!" ”

"No, General!" Zhang Chi replied wittily: "In fact, if your hypothesis is true, your aircraft carrier may be named Rabaul, Marshall, or even Tokyo!" ”

Brigadier General Nelson couldn't help but laugh when he heard this: "If I had a choice, I really wish I could name her the Tokyo!" ”

Since an escort aircraft carrier was sunk by the Japanese during the Battle of Tarawa, when the aircraft carrier bombed Voje Island, the destroyer patrolled the surrounding waters to prevent a sneak attack by Japanese submarines.

But in fact, this is not necessary, because at this time, the Japanese submarine has been transferred to the periphery of the archipelago to deal with the other three aircraft carrier battle groups...... From this point of view, the US military's strategy of diverting the tiger from the mountain has been very successful.

Zhang Chi is not very concerned about these aspects, because Liu Guangzhong and Zhang Junhua coordinate and command with the US military, and if Zhang Chi has to command everything, Zhang Chi will not be able to command him, and in some respects Zhang Chi is still unprofessional, and it is not suitable to meddle too much in the command of the navy and aviation.

Zhang Chi's attention was focused on the seizure of the island.

The first target of the attack was, of course, not Voje Island. As previously planned, it was necessary to take a few islands and lay artillery first.

In the direction of Woje Atoll, two islands were selected, one called Arton Island and the other called Albert Island.

Arton Island is an island outside the Voj Atoll, which the US military calls "a hairless island" because, judging from the photographs taken by the reconnaissance plane, it is an island with no grass...... So the exact definition should be reef rather than island.

But whether it's an island or a reef, it's about 10 kilometres away from Woje Atoll...... This distance is good news for the US 155 mm caliber M1A1 howitzer, because the M1A1 howitzer has a range of 15 kilometers and can easily hit the Wojie Atoll, while the Japanese have artillery with a range of up to 10 kilometers can not be predicted...... This was demonstrated in the Battle of Tarawa, where most of the Japanese artillery was artillery that could be hidden in underground fortifications, and they used it to prevent American landings from the coast or to block access to the atoll.

Compared with these small and medium-caliber artillery that can be hidden in underground fortifications, although the large-caliber coastal defense artillery is powerful, it needs to build a large pillbox fortification as its hiding place, and this pillbox fortification is relatively easy to be discovered by US warships or fighters in battle and becomes a priority target, so it basically cannot play a role.

The operation to occupy Arton Island was so successful that Zhang Chi sent a battalion of troops to carry out a landing operation on it in landing vehicles, and even used tank landing craft to transport five "Sherman" tanks to the island...... In fact, Zhang Chi knew that there would not be much resistance on this island, this was because this "dime-free" island was not suitable for human habitation, for example, there was no fresh water and no food, and if the Japanese army wanted to send people to garrison here for a long time, the cost of living would be quite high, which was a waste for the Japanese army, which was seriously lacking in materials. The other is because Arton Island is outside the defensive circle of Woje and has little strategic significance for the Japanese defense in Woje.

Zhang Chi sent so many troops to occupy Artun mainly because he wanted to give the troops a chance to conduct a real exercise.

As Zhang Chi imagined, the Chinese troops easily occupied Arton Island without encountering any resistance, and the 2nd Regiment and 1st Battalion in charge of this operation only found two Japanese soldiers with walkie-talkies in the caves on the island...... Needless to say, the mission of these two Japanese soldiers was to keep an eye on the movements of the enemy around them and report to the command.

As soon as the island of Arton was occupied, the landing craft continued to transport artillery, artillery, shells and supplies to the island, and then two hours later, three battalions of 155-mm howitzers on the island of Arton let out a roar, shell after shell, almost without a stop, towards the island of Voje.

The occupation of Albert Island was much more troublesome.

Albert Island is nicknamed "The Pretender" because it is the opposite of the "unwieldy" of Alton Island, which is covered with vegetation.

Albert Island is unique in that it is a small island on the Voje Atoll...... It was predictable that landing on Albert Island would be difficult and would be bombed by the Japanese.

The reason for the landing on this island was chosen because the experience of the Battle of Tarawa knew that the Japanese army would have a heavy garrison of the island near the entrance to the lagoon...... This practice makes sense, as it makes it possible to control the entrance to the lagoon so that the enemy cannot enter the lagoon and cause them problems.

Due to the lack of Japanese troops, the Japanese army neglected to guard against the islands and reefs far from the entrance to the lagoon.

Albert Island is one such island, located a full five kilometres from the entrance of the lagoon, and is topographically an inconspicuous island in the Voj Atoll.

But...... If the island had been seized by the Chinese army and artillery had been deployed, the result would have been completely different.

(To be continued.) )