"I'm back!" MacArthur stood at the bow of the ship and looked at the island in the distance, whispering in a trembling voice.

The unfavorable news from the front line accelerated Washington's decision on the action of the commander-in-chief of the Army in the Pacific.

At this time, one of MacArthur's rivals was Marin Craig, who succeeded him as chief of staff of the U.S. Army.

The other army generals or lieutenant generals were either old, or underqualified or lacked sufficient experience to serve in Asia, and with Roosevelt's strong support, MacArthur finally appeared on the front line of the landing operation.

MacArthur, who survived, knew that this might be his last chance.

In the past, the United States suppressed the army with all its might, which caused a fault line in the US army, and there was no general in Shuzhong, so it had to rely on him. But as the U.S. military's offensive in Europe and Asia continued to advance, so did the stars shine, and a large number of capable young generals emerged. Maybe their qualifications are a little worse now, but their military exploits are the most convincing, and maybe in less than a year, someone will be able to replace him, or even accomplish better than him.

These newly rising generals may not have his old subordinates who are loyally waiting for his return, and if he makes a series of mistakes, his subordinates may also be disappointed in him.

As soon as MacArthur arrived at the front, after three days of analysis buried in maps and intelligence, he also had a headache about the huge casualties that could be caused by the continued onslaught.

He also has a bad reputation for causing huge casualties to the US military, which is no worse than the controversial incident of his suppression of the rebellion of American veterans of World War I. I'm afraid he won't get out so quickly.

But if he comes up with a series of heavy casualty figures, I'm afraid he won't be so lucky.

"Continued saturation bombing!" MacArthur quickly made up his mind.

The Americans are afraid of casualties, but they are not afraid of squandering arms.

Americans with deep pockets are rich. And the supply channel behind them is also sending a steady stream of military supplies.

It should be said that Lao Mai's luck is also good.

At the beginning of October. When Mussolini came to power in Italy, the Americans had settled many of the French-colonized islands in the southwest Pacific.

These islands, which are still neutral or subject to the Vichy government of France, have always not allowed a large fleet of US military ships to pass, and who knows whether the Americans will take the opportunity to seize the islands.

But now that the French Resistance has moved closer to the Allies, the islands have opened their ports and airfields to American troops. In this way, without waiting for the Hawaiian port to be perfected and without facing the obstruction of Japanese warships, the logistics of the Americans could arrive safely.

Now a steady stream of weapons and ammunition is coming. It was more than the first time I landed on the island and fought in more supplies.

Lao Mai's strength also pressured the navy to make certain concessions.

After he unified the command of the army, he also focused his primary goal on the Fiji Islands, instead of listening to each other, attacking multiple targets at the same time.

"If you give up on New Caledonia, will the Chinese make a move?" His chief of staff, Lieutenant General Sutherland, was not without concern.

"No problem!" Lao Mai waved his hand, he got more news, and knew that Huaxia couldn't take care of the vicinity of Australia now. Said proudly, "The Australian fleet of the Chinese people can't reach that far yet. ”

He said that he was not polite at all, he suffered a big loss at the hands of the Chinese people.

In his opinion, Huaxia's existing fleet in Australia, which has been shrinking, probably does not have much courage to visit New Caledonia.

Without the cover of naval guns, more than 30,000 Japanese troops were in the air facing the embankment of New Caledonia. I'm afraid that Huaxia's tactics of sudden airborne landing this time will not work.

He ceded New Caledonia from attacking, not without the intention of testing the Chinese and seeing jokes, and besides, those French people have been holding on to the question of the ownership of New Caledonia and not letting the Americans get their hands dirty. If Noumea was one of the best ports in the Southwest Pacific and could be used as a springboard for further strategies, the Americans would not have regained it sooner.

"New Caledonia 30,000. There are less than 20,000 on Santo Island and 20,000 on Vanua, so we only need to deal with about 50,000 Japanese dwarfs on Viti Levu! "MacArthur is now trying to be steady. After a long day of analysis, it was decided that the lion would fight the rabbit and solve the problem of Fiji first.

After all, New Caledonia is worth a little less. Most of Vanuatu was recaptured by the Navy, with only the largest island, Santo Island, still under siege by the Marines. He would never give up, and besides, he needed a decent record to overpower the Navy.

With his orders, more than 200,000 American soldiers moved together.

Before they launched the attack, the Japanese positions along the coastline of Viti Levu had already been groaning incessantly for three days and three nights amid the bombardment of aircraft and the volley of naval artillery.

This time, Lao Mai pressed the treasure hard, and the naval guns of the Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri, which came from the Navy support, almost plowed the important target area.

Under the ramming of the 50-diameter 406-mm main gun on the USS Missouri, which was put into service ahead of schedule, most of the Japanese fortifications in the key target area could not withstand it and collapsed and destroyed, and a large number of Japanese soldiers were directly buried in the burrows where they were hiding, causing heavy losses.

Although the Japanese were also keenly aware that the area that the battleship's large-caliber naval guns focused on might be the most likely place for the United States to land, they were unable to replenish their defenses in time in the face of overwhelming bombardment by the US military.

The entire surface was covered with a thick layer of floating earth, which wiped out the tunnels and trenches of the Japanese, and few people could pass through these areas shrouded in fire and death.

Even though the Japanese have adapted to the earthquake environment on the island, they are still unable to stand safely under the tremor of various explosions, and wait for the end of this nightmare with pale faces.

The vast majority of those who adapted to the saturated firepower of China had already died, and it was the first time that these Japanese experienced this kind of shells and bombs for free, and they did not collapse on the spot, and the quality of the Japanese soldiers was already good.

The sound of artillery gradually thinned out, but the Japanese did not dare to show their heads. They have already learned their lesson.

Previously, as soon as the American firepower that had been bombarded for a day weakened slightly, the Japanese commander on Viti Levu, Major General Kiyonao Ichiki, had spilled his reserves that had withdrawn to the jungle in the rear to replenish the defensive positions, but in the blink of an eye, a brigade was swallowed up by the heavy artillery fire of the Americans again.

This makes Ichiki Kiyonao, who has always liked pig rushes, have to be cautious.

In the hands of the Chinese Pioneer Army, he had already tasted the bitter fruit of the charge in the face of the rain of bullets, and his subordinate troops who provoked the 77 Incident at that time fell under the fire of the Chinese Pioneer Army, and he was blind in one eye and was able to escape alone.

The heavy casualties of the Japanese army in China made a large number of officers burp, which made him quickly promoted to major general, instead of dying like in his previous life.

Originally, he wanted to use the bravery of the Japanese soldiers to crush the will of the Americans who were afraid of death, and held out until the two sides went to the negotiating table. But I didn't expect that after the Americans retreated after the failure of the first attack, they came again with devastating artillery fire.

After three successive reams were consumed into artillery fire, he had given up on filling the bottomless pit of the front line.

The three days and three nights of bombardment had already numbed his nerves a little.

"Boom, boom, boom" The bombardment in his ears became fierce again.

"Sure enough!" Ichiki Qingqing didn't raise his eyebrows and continued to count the remaining hoarding materials, calculating how long he could hold on.

"Your Excellency, the Americans have launched a ground offensive!" A staff officer with a smoky black face half-ran and half-rolled into the underground defensive fortress made of eight layers of logs, and hurriedly said.

"Got it!" Kazuki replied unhurriedly, the overwhelming artillery fire brought great panic to those recruits, and he needed to calm the morale with a calm performance.

But he seemed to realize something, and then he jumped up from the improvised table made of several logs, glared at him, and asked, "What, the Americans launched a ground attack?" Ground offense? ”

Lest he misheard, he couldn't help but ask again.

"Yes!" The young staff officer straightened up and affirmed, "They've landed!" ”

"It's finally here!" Kazuki muttered straight.

He knew that this time the US offensive was definitely more fierce than the last one, and the US artillery fire this time had already brought more than 10,000 casualties to the Japanese, plus more than 10,000 casualties in the last defense, and now there were less than 20,000 soldiers who could fight.

No matter how many difficulties there are, the crazy Japanese will not easily admit defeat.

"Drive them back again!" Ichiki Kiyoshi shouted wildly, and the sound floated out of the underground fortifications, slowly dissipating into the roar of many American fighters in the sky outside.