Therefore, the intelligence work of the US military was carried out on the basis of Guam. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The U.S. military used the officers and men stationed on Guam to obtain as comprehensive information as possible about Guam, and from this reason, it speculated about the possible changes in the defense of Guam. More importantly, since 1936, the Marine Corps School has conducted a tactical exercise on the "Guam Problem" for officers at the school level, which required officers to study how to defend against a hypothetical hostile attack on Guam and how to recapture Guam from enemy forces, and many of these officers were in the active U.S. Marine Corps, and they had a clear understanding of the island's topography and natural barriers.

As a matter of fact, the US military's operational plan, codenamed "surprise attack," was carried out with Guam as the focal point, not only because the US military has a relatively large amount of intelligence on Guam, but also because Guam is the largest island in the Mariana Islands, and there are two large airfields of the Japanese army on it...... What is more important is that once Guam is occupied, in fact, the strategic goal of the US military has been achieved, that is, the B-29 bombers taking off from Guam can bomb the entire territory of Japan, and it will also snow the shame of Guam being occupied by the Japanese army.

However, Halsey was not satisfied with this, because Guam was located at the southernmost tip of the Mariana Islands, if only Guam was captured, and it was only a hundred nautical miles from Saipan, the main defense center of the Japanese army...... The Japanese knew from the beginning that the US military was familiar with the terrain of Guam, so although Guam was the largest island, there were not many airfields on it, and the Japanese airfields were mainly distributed on Saipan, the second largest island, (three airfields), and Tinian Island, the third largest island, (four airfields).

Therefore, if the other islands are not occupied, Guam will be like a thorn in the back, and the bombers will have to make a detour to bomb Japan, and there is a danger that it will be intercepted by the Japanese army.

However, the reconnaissance of other islands did not go so smoothly, and the only information that the US military could obtain about other islands was the hydrology of some coastlines that divers had reconnoitred, as for aerial photography...... However, due to the obscuration of the clouds, valuable information could not be obtained.

But that's not the biggest headache for Halsey, after all, it sometimes doesn't hurt to not get accurate information, Halsey's idea is...... After seizing air and sea supremacy in the Mariana Islands, you can rest assured that the reconnaissance planes will conduct low-altitude reconnaissance or aerial photography. If it really can't be done, it will not be difficult to obtain further information by taking Guam first and then using Guam's airfields to bomb Saipan and Tinian Islands.

What really gave Halsey a headache was the lack of preparation of the attacking troops.

The Marine Corps had only one division of the 4th Marine Division, and this division Halsey was intended to be used to seize Guam, which was the most important part of the Battle of Maria, so of course it had to be handed over to the Marines who were most familiar with landing operations.

But the two main remaining islands are Saipan and Tinian...... It could only be handed over to the 27th Infantry Division and the 77th Infantry Division, which had been transferred.

Needless to say, the 27th Infantry Division, which fought a battle when attacking Makin Island, fought for three days when the strength of one division attacked Makin Island, which was garrisoned by only a few hundred Japanese troops...... Not only that, but also lost troops, and finally was surrounded by the Japanese army and needed to be rescued by the Chinese army.

Because the infantry division participated in the Battle of Makin Island with less intensity and fewer casualties, it was now quickly transferred to the battlefield again. It's just that its previous performance really didn't reassure Halsey.

However, the 27th Division had also been on the battlefield and had fought landing battles, and the other division, the 77th Infantry Division, had participated in the battle for the first time...... In fact, this is not to blame the US military, mainly because the stuff of amphibious operations is still a new thing at this time, the tactics are the same day by day, and new equipment on the battlefield, such as "tank landing ships", "Donald Duck", "Spitfire tanks", etc., have sprung up one after another.

This new equipment is a little uncomfortable even for the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which has been fighting on the battlefield, let alone the infantry divisions that have only undergone "intensive training" in the rear.

It's not ...... When preparing for the Battle of the Marianas, the U.S. military put two new pieces of equipment into its equipment: one was an amphibious armored vehicle nicknamed "Duck", and the other was a solidified ******.

The difference between the "Duck" and the amphibious landing vehicle LVT is that the amphibious landing vehicle is tracked, while the "Duck" is a car tire...... To put it simply, the "duck" is more like a car that travels in the water, specially equipped for transporting goods.

This is designed for the amphibious landing vehicle to be loaded with a large enough capacity. As we all know, in landing operations, it is often necessary to quickly transport a large amount of equipment in a short period of time, such as artillery, ammunition, and even jeeps...... It could almost be described as a ship on wheels, with a thinner armor-piercing and a larger hull that could easily carry a gun or jeep, and even tow a section of a pontoon full of equipment...... This pontoon can sometimes be replaced with empty oil drums tied together.

This will obviously be of great help to the consolidation of equipment after the landing force has landed.

Needless to say, another napalm bomb, this thing explodes into pieces as soon as it explodes, and it burns for a long time and is very lethal.

Especially the napalm used in this bomb...... At this time, the U.S. military is studying filling the napalm into the flamethrower, and this is not very difficult, but it is conceivable that this will definitely increase the lethality of the flamethrower exponentially.

To Halsey's relief, although the combat effectiveness of these two infantry divisions was not satisfactory to him, at least there were still Chinese troops in the ......

"How much time do we have?" Halsey asked the staff officer.

"What?" The staff officer was a little puzzled.

"Our preparation time!"

"Oh!" The staff officer thought for a moment and replied: "Oh, there is still a month, we need time to replenish ammunition and fuel for aircraft carriers, warships and warplanes!" ”

"Hmm!" Halsey nodded, and then ordered: "Immediately transfer the 77th Infantry Division and the 27th Infantry Division to Rabaul and let them be trained by the Chinese troops!" ”

"Yes! Sir! The staff officer answered.

Halsey's eyes were always on the map of the Mariana Islands on the table, and he was still worried that the landing force would not be able to capture the target island, or that the battle would eventually require the help of the Chinese army.

What Halsey didn't know was that the focus of this battle was not actually landing operations at all.

(To be continued.) )