There is no doubt that the battle was started by the Navy, and the first to start the battle in the Navy was undoubtedly the aviation...... Based on the experience gained in the previous naval battles of Midway and Guadalcanal, the US military had a certain pattern in naval warfare at this time, and they knew that the first thing in the battle for the islands was to seize air supremacy.

At this time, it was not a very big problem for the US Navy to gain air supremacy, and 12 aircraft carriers poured out, and if the escort aircraft carriers were included, there were a total of 20 aircraft carriers, and there were 900 carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carriers at sea alone, so many fighters, especially the new "Hellcat" fighters, were not a force to be insulted in any case.

On the other hand, the Japanese army, its own industrial capacity is far inferior to the United States, after losing several aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Kuah, at this time there were only three aircraft carriers in Kogafeng's hands: Zuizuru, Hayabusa and Zuiho, of which only Zuihe was the main aircraft carrier, and Hayabusa and Zuiho were light aircraft carriers...... This lineup cannot be compared with the 12 main aircraft carriers of the US Navy and 8 light aircraft carriers in any case.

To make matters worse, what the Japanese Navy lacks most is pilots, pilots, pilots...... The important thing was said three times, but the Japanese did not think it was important until now, and they thought that pilots, like ordinary soldiers, only needed a few pennies of stamps and envelopes to send a call-up order, and they regretted it until now when they found that there were almost no experienced pilots to use.

As a result, although these three Japanese aircraft carriers can accommodate 160 carrier-based aircraft, of which the Zuihe can accommodate 80, the Zuiho can accommodate 30, and the Falcon Eagle can accommodate 50, in fact, the carrier-based aircraft on these aircraft carriers are seriously insufficient, and the total number of carrier-based aircraft on the three aircraft carriers is only 90, and the total number of Japanese fighters on the various airports in the Marshall Islands is only more than 200.

With more than 200 fighters, there are more than 1,000 fighters against the US military, including land-based air forces, and it can be said that it is a mantis arm blocking the car.

Therefore, the US Navy was also quite confident, and it first dispatched the 1st Group of the 50th Task Force, with a total of 3 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, and 6 destroyers, to carry out air strikes on Tarawa Island and Makin Island with the coordination of B-24 heavy bombers of shore-based air forces.

The results of the air raid were modest, and only 9 Japanese attack planes and 2 seaplanes were destroyed.

But the reason for the small results of the battle was simply because the Japanese army did not have many planes on these two islands, and then the Japanese air force looked at it...... The Yankees came up with hundreds of planes (note: the US Essex-class aircraft carriers can accommodate 91 carrier-based aircraft each), and if they continued to stay here, they would basically be looking for death, so after only one air raid, the Japanese army only left 4 seaplanes on Makin Island, and all the rest of the planes were withdrawn.

The four seaplanes left behind were for the convenience of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering and then reporting to Koga Mine, and the seaplanes had this benefit, and it would be difficult for the US military to find them wherever they fled and landed on the sea.

During the air raid, the US plane also carried out systematic aerial photography of Tarawa and Makin Island, providing more detailed information for the next landing step.

Then the four aircraft carrier groups of the 50th Task Force arrived in the waters near the Gilbert Islands one after another, and the 1st Group deployed in the north to intercept the sea and air support of the Japanese army from the Marshall Islands south; The 2nd Brigade was deployed near Makin Island and was responsible for seizing air supremacy in the Makin Island area; The 3rd Brigade was deployed near Tarawa Island and was responsible for seizing air supremacy in the Tarawa Island area; The 4th Group deployed to the west to intercept Japanese naval and air support from Nauru Island.

Then, following Halsey's order, the carrier-based aircraft of the 11 main aircraft carriers of the 50th Task Force of the US Army were dispatched in a big way to carry out all-round aviation fire strikes on the Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, and Nauru Islands.

In fact, there is no need for such fanfare at all to strike at the Japanese aviation units, and one way to achieve smaller losses is to wait for the rabbit...... The U.S. Navy has more advanced radars, which can detect the take-off of Japanese fighters at any time, so they can intercept Japanese fighters after they take off, so that they do not have to send fighters to face the anti-aircraft fire on the Japanese islands.

But the U.S. Navy would do so for a reason.

The reasons for this are...... The vast majority of these aircraft carriers of the US Navy are newly built and have just been put into service, and although many of the crew members and carrier-based aircraft pilots have been trained before participating in the war, most of them are novices who have no actual combat experience, and let them attack these Japanese islands where the air defense and air firepower are not strong; on the one hand, they can indeed suppress the Japanese air force so that they cannot reinforce Tarawa, and on the other hand, they can train their troops so that they can grow up rapidly in actual combat.

Until this time, there was nothing to do with the army...... This was followed by seven consecutive days of air raids and bombing by U.S. naval air forces on Tarawa and Makin Island.

"Seven days of air raids?" When he heard this information, Staff Officer Liang couldn't help but be so surprised that his jaw almost dropped.

It is no wonder that Staff Officer Liang was so surprised, this amount of ammunition consumed was unimaginable for the soldiers of the expeditionary force from China.

On the other hand, Zhang Chi felt that this was also the reason why MacArthur underestimated the enemy...... After seven days of bombing, I'm afraid that the island is about to be blown and sunk, what fortifications can be left?!

But it is clear that MacArthur underestimated the ability of the Japanese to build fortifications and their determination to fight.

Chinese troops arrived in the waters near Tarawa on the sixth day after the launch of the air strikes.

Zhang Chi didn't even know where the island where the Japanese were located, but he saw the planes in the sky flying over and back, the sky was full of the whistling of fighter planes, and the warships of various types lined up in front of and behind him were constantly firing their cannons...... Zhang Chi didn't even know if they were firing indiscriminately or if they had a purpose.

The officers and men of the new 28th Division saw this battle for the first time, and they were undoubtedly shocked by what they saw in front of them, and they pointed to this and looked at that from time to time on the side of the ship, and kept exclaiming.

"Master!" When Wu Shimin found Zhang Chi, he sighed: "I didn't believe it when you said it at the beginning...... Now I know that this Yankee war is more exaggerated than you say! ”

"Isn't it?" Zhang Chi smiled: "And this is only one of those days, today is the sixth day of the Yankee bombing!" ”

Then Zhang Chi handed Wu Shimin a telescope, pointed in the direction of Tarawa and said, "Look, that's the island to land!" ”

Wu Shimin looked in the direction indicated by Zhang Chi, shook his head and scolded: "Damn, the Yankees are also called wars, and the island with a big ass is about to be blown up!" (To be continued.) )