"It's a trade-off for me, understand?" Zhang Chi said: "Whether to put tens of thousands of people in the New Seventh Army in danger like the battlefield in Burma, or to strangle this danger in the cradle, the major should know which choice is the right one!" ”

"Master's seat...... Is there no other way? ”

Zhang Chi smiled: "I should say that...... This is the battlefield, and the battlefield itself is brutal! Secondly, if the new 28th Division is a qualified unit, then they will also survive on the battlefield, otherwise they will be eliminated by the battlefield, and so will we! You should think of this the day you get the order to go to war, this is reality, understand? ”

"Yes!" Liu Ting responded helplessly.

"You can go!"

"Yes!"

Looking at the back of Liu Ting leaving, Zhang Chi couldn't help but shake his head...... Perhaps the war should really make women go away, because they are not suited to such a cruel environment.

On the other hand, Zhang Chi believed that Liu Ting would not tell anyone about this, because she knew that although Zhang Chi did this, although it could be said to be cruel, it was undoubtedly right, not to mention that even if she told the truth, it would not change anything, and it would even make things worse.

While the New Seventh Army is training intensively for the coming war...... Although the New Seventh Army is used as a reserve, war is always a matter of prevention, and this is the first time that the New Seventh Army has organized actual combat in the navy, army, and aviation, so Zhang Chi does not dare to be careless.

At the same time, the US military is actively preparing for war.

However, the US military's preparations are mainly strategic and naval, and it should be said that the US military has been very successful in this regard.

For example, the U.S. military started from Samoa and gradually advanced along the Tuvalu Islands to the "absolute defensive circle" of the Japanese army.

The "gradual advance" here naturally refers to the occupation of island by island with the combat radius of the fighter plane...... Needless to say, the US Navy's operations are carried out under the cover of fighters, and actions without the cover of fighters are undoubtedly quite dangerous and very stupid, at least for the US military. In saying this, the Americans seem to have forgotten that Zhang Chi did not have the cover of warplanes when they captured Rabaul.

Then the United States first occupied the island of Funafuti, located 1260 kilometers from the Tarawa Atoll...... It was very easy to occupy this island, and at this time, the Japanese troops basically withdrew to the "absolute defense circle" to take a defensive position, and most of the islands outside the "defense circle" only left a dozen or dozens of Japanese troops as observation posts.

After the capture of Funafuti, the U.S. military soon built an airfield and port on it. Thanks to the modern equipment and the efforts of the US military's engineers, Funafuti Island has become the most important forward supply base and aviation base of the US military in just half a month.

However, the distance of 1260 kilometers is still too far, although it can make the combat radius of the US land-based bomber B29 cover Tarawa (note: the combat radius of the B29 is about 2600 kilometers), but it is still out of reach for fighters such as the "Wildcat".

The U.S. military then used Funafuti as a base to occupy Baker Island, 860 kilometers east of Tarawa, and captured the Nanomea and Nukufetau Islands, and also built airfields on the islands. Even the U.S. military sent submarines carrying sappers to secretly occupy Howland Island, which is only 500 kilometers away from Tarawa, and built an airstrip...... This airstrip is intended for the emergency landing of injured aircraft.

From this point of view, the US military is indeed more humane when formulating combat plans.

If this is a Japanese army, it doesn't matter if he wants to make an emergency landing on any injured plane, and if the plane is injured, he doesn't have to come back, and he directly crashes into the enemy's warship and pulls it down. However, the U.S. military attaches great importance to the safety of pilots.

All of this seemed to indicate an attack on Tarawa by the American army, which was what the Japanese initially thought.

This seems like a terrible plan, because the strategic intentions are already exposed to the enemy before the war begins.

However, the United States has learned what the Chinese art of war says, "the real is the real and the real is the false", and just when the Japanese thought that the US military would attack Tarawa, the US aircraft carrier first launched an attack on the Marshall Islands......

It was a fast aircraft carrier formation of the US military, with 3 aircraft carriers, 1 battleship, 2 cruisers and 10 destroyers, which went straight to the Marshall Islands from Pearl Harbor and then attacked South Bird Island, and successively dispatched 279 sorties of six waves of attack and take-off fighters, destroying all the Japanese planes on the island, blowing up 400 barrels of aviation gasoline stored on the island and destroying the airport runway, and the US military only lost four planes...... This has fully demonstrated that the Japanese army's prestige in Zero War is no longer there.

At this time, the Japanese army suddenly realized...... It turned out that the previous US military was gradually aiming at Tarawa as an illusion, and their real target was the Marshall Islands, which was the "absolute defense circle".

As a result, the Japanese army urgently dispatched all its troops and ships to the Marshall Islands, and even some of the fighters from the airfield on Nauru Island, which could reinforce Tarawa, were transferred to the Marshall Islands.

Of course, the Japanese did not know that this was just a false shot by the US Navy.

While the Japanese were assembling in the Marshall Islands, the fleet of the Chinese and American forces set off in the direction of Tarawa.

However, compared to such strategically rigorous preparations, the preparations of the US ground offensive forces can be described as shabby...... The 2nd Marine Division of the United States is not bad, after all, they are marines, and they have fought before this, although more than 1,000 people were hospitalized with malaria due to the unsuitable climate and environment when they were stationed on Kuah Island, but they also have some experience, so the assembly speed is quite fast.

The U.S. 27th Infantry Division was fatal, and their assembly area stretched from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, and they were extremely scattered and distant from each other.

If MacArthur had been in front of him, Zhang Chi would definitely taunt him: "So this is what you said about the army that is ready to take the Japanese island easily!" ”

From this point, it can also be seen that the US Army did not take this battle seriously at all, and they always believed that this battle was mainly bombed by the Navy and Air Force, and that the Army only landed on the island to collect corpses and build fortifications.

On the contrary, the soldiers of the New Seventh Army were all ready to fight, although their mission this time was only a reserve, but because Zhang Chi had told them early on that the battle they were about to come was likely to be a hard battle, so everyone was mentally prepared.

Among them, there was only one exception, and that was the two battalions in Wu Shimin's hands.

(To be continued.) )