Wu Shimin was also one of the lucky soldiers who rushed to the shore...... It took him and the soldiers of the new 28th Division more than half an hour to cross that waterway, which was only 500 meters long, and when they stepped on the solid ground on the shore to breathe a sigh of relief, they found that there were few comrades left alive.

"Battalion commander, what to do!" A soldier hid under the slope defense and shouted at Wu Shimin.

Wu Shimin couldn't help but curse in his heart: Damn, how do I know what to do?!

But as the battalion commander, of course, he would not say this, but shouted to the signal soldier: "Contact the division headquarters for me!" ”

Wu Shimin hoped to get Zhang Chi's next instructions, but to his disappointment, the signal soldier quickly replied: "Battalion commander, the radio is flooded, and it can't be used!" ”

"Where's the backup station?" Wu Shimin asked.

"It's flooded too!" The communications officer replied.

"You drop!" Wu Shimin grabbed a stone and threw it at the communication soldier: "How did you become this communication soldier?" I can't even watch the radio! ”

But in fact, everyone knows that you can't blame the communications soldiers for this, it's good to be able to save your life in that situation just now, and you have to ensure that the radio station doesn't get into the water?!

This phenomenon was also very common among U.S. troops, so that the landing force lost contact with the command headquarters located on the warship almost as soon as it landed.

Losing contact sounds like a trivial matter, but on the battlefield it is definitely a big deal.

Because this means that General Hill is completely unaware of the situation of the landing force, so he cannot provide any fire assistance or even send reinforcements to the landing force.

At this time, Major General Hill was faced with another thorny problem: should he continue to send a second landing force as originally planned? Or do you want to postpone the landing?!

If the landing continues, the landing force will undoubtedly face the same problem...... The landing craft ran aground, which almost meant sending more troops to the guns of the Japanese.

And if the landing is suspended...... And when will it be? What's worse is that the troops that have landed on Bito Island are obviously already in danger, and if the landing is postponed, does it mean that they will not be saved?!

"General!" At this time, Smith, the commander of the 2nd Marine Division, made a phone call to Major General Hill and asked, "I want to know your plan, what should I do next?" ”

"Sorry, General Smith!" Major General Hill replied: "I think we will have to postpone the landing until there is a viable plan for an attack!" ”

"A viable offensive plan?" Major General Smith replied with some anger: "What about the 2nd Marine Regiment that has landed on Beato Island?" ”

"They need to wait!" Major General Hill replied: "As you know, the Japanese resistance is beyond our imagination, and we have underestimated the depth of the water......"

"Then you shouldn't put Land War 2**** on this damn Beato Island!" Major General Smith interrupted Major General Hill.

Major General Hill did not answer, for he understood that as one of the planners, he could not escape responsibility for this failure in any way.

Smith also knew that this was not the time to hold accountable, so he continued: "General Hill, I think I should remind you...... There is a possibility that the 2nd Marine Regiment will be severely short of water, and in addition, the Japanese are very good at night fighting, so we should think of a solution as soon as possible, either to rescue the 2nd Marine Regiment or to find a way to send more troops to attack Bito Island. Otherwise, when it gets dark, the Japanese will surround the soldiers of the 2nd Marine Regiment and kill them one by one! ”

Maj. Gen. Smith is not alarmist.

First of all, Tarawa is only 125 kilometers from the equator, and it is the height of summer, and the Marines have to endure furnace-like heat throughout the operation. On the other hand, the Marines had lost a lot of their equipment, including drinking water, when they jumped out of their landing craft and charged at Beato Island.

As a result, before ten o'clock in the morning, the landing force had already drunk the little drinking water that was left.

Secondly, Major General Smith once led his troops to fight with the Japanese army on Kuah Island, so he also knew very well that the Japanese army was good at night fighting, and the troops who landed on the island did not even have defensive depth, if there was defensive depth, the farthest distance was only more than ten meters from the coastline, such a defense can be said to be vulnerable, because it only takes one grenade and one charge to be torn open.

Major Smith continued: "At this time, the reason why the Japanese did not launch a counter-charge towards the 2nd Marine Regiment was only because they were afraid of our warships and aircraft, and they thought that it was very dangerous to jump out of the trenches and annihilate the 2nd Marine Regiment in this situation, but if you wait until night, it will be completely different!" ”

Major General Hill sighed dejectedly and said, "I agree, General Smith. Of course we won't leave the 2nd Marine Regiment alone, we'll find a better way! ”

But in fact, this is just a delaying tactic, and Major General Hill can be said to be at a loss for the situation in front of him.

In the end, he had no choice but to report the situation to Halsey.

And Halsey's first thought was Zhang Chi, so it didn't take long for Zhang Chi to receive a call from Colonel Halsey: "Colonel, I need you to have a meeting on the 'Alex' aircraft carrier, something is wrong with our attack!" ”

Of course, Zhang Chi knew that there was a problem with the US military's attack on Tarawa, so he did not hesitate to fly to the "Alex" aircraft carrier on a carrier-based plane.

When Zhang Chi walked into the conference room, he couldn't help but be stunned, because he found that MacArthur was also there, and at the same time, there was a slight smug smile on his face, and when he saw Zhang Chi coming in, he leisurely cocked Erlang's legs and nodded to Zhang Chi.

Halsey anxiously invited Zhang Chi to walk to the map and said, "Zhang ...... You're right, our assault on Tarawa suffered heavy losses! ”

"To be exact......" MacArthur interjected, "you're only half right, our attack on Makin Island is going well!" We've made it to Makin Island! ”

MacArthur said that it was still true, just when the 2nd Marine Regiment was in a predicament at Tarawa, two regiments of the US 27th Division had successfully landed on Makin Island, and these two regiments did not even encounter any resistance, only one soldier was killed by the Japanese stray bullets.

The only thing that did not go well was the explosion of the main guns of the battleship "Mississippi", which was on fire cover duty, as a result of which 43 people were killed and 19 were injured.

Of course, this was also an accident for the Navy and had nothing to do with MacArthur's US 27th Division.

MacArthur was also bent on outclassing the high-spirited Seaside Marines, and now it seemed that he had made his wish.

(To be continued.) )