The destruction of the New Musashi made the Americans no longer have to worry about the future, and a group of warships surrounded Midway Island and started a group fight.

Midway Island is a grassy boy who cannot hide the target at all, and the convenience of being close to the US mainland and closer to Hawaii allows the US to have the luxury of piling up ammunition all over the island.

The battleship USS Hawaii and the battleship USS Nanda-class Indiana, which arrived from the west coast, bombarded three days and three nights with six heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, and six aircraft carriers, so that most of the fortresses and fortifications on Midway were reduced to ashes.

Most of the fortifications on the island were left by the Americans, naturally with detailed coordinates and other intelligence. For the 406-mm naval guns of the Montana and Nanda classes, it is already possible to do a little bit of name. Even the two 420-mm naval guns that the Japanese dismantled from the damaged Nagato-class battleships could not withstand such a heavy bombardment, and they took an early break.

The remaining three threatening 203-mm guns were bombarded into the sky.

Under the attack of large-caliber naval guns, except for some small-caliber infantry guns buried deep in the ground and constantly wandering, the other Japanese artillery was basically bombed.

Of course, they also fulfilled part of their mission.

The U.S. 27th Division, which had been in charge of garrisoning in Hawaii for a period of time, served as the main force of the landing operation. More than 12,000 people were invested in the campaign. However, due to the frequent harassment of the Americans, Midway Island made it difficult to supply logistics, and the focus of the Americans' attack was in the South Pacific, so the total number of personnel on the island was only more than 4,000.

One of the top cruisers, one destroyer and two submarines of the naval fleet stationed on the island were sunk, and after the escape of one destroyer and four submarines, less than half of the personnel on the island remained.

Having lost the cover of the Navy, Midway has opened its arms in front of the Americans. Division Commander Ralph Smith, who wanted to get ahead of the navy, hurriedly ordered the American troops to start landing.

If only another Smith, Rear Admiral Holland Smith of the Marine Corps, who had lived through the Battle of Kuah Island, had been here. This is certainly not recommended. Even the American carrier-based bombers and naval guns have already plowed the island all over again. It does not necessarily mean that the Japanese artillery fire is silent.

The accuracy of the attack of the naval guns and the aerial bombardment was not very good, and there was little threat to the underground fortifications.

The Japanese, who had learned well from the Chinese, had already begun to hide their firepower underground.

As a result, the 27th Division, which had no actual experience in landing, relied on numerous landing craft, kayaks and more than 60 LVT amphibious landing vehicles. After trepidating through the underwater coral reefs and finally stepping on the land of Midway Island to breathe a sigh of relief, the hidden Japanese artillery fire began to take effect.

Although the two 420-mm naval guns took an early break. But the 203-mm heavy artillery dealt a devastating blow to the American troops who landed on the island.

Although the U.S. naval guns and bombers in the air completely crushed the sudden Japanese artillery attack in less than half an hour, the names of more than 700 soldiers had been erased from the register of the landing force of the 27th Division, which was still floating on the shallow coral reefs.

The 27th Division quickly withdrew, and it was not until the return of the 4 aircraft carriers operating with the USS Ohio that another collective fire clearance came and the second large-scale landing operation was carried out.

This time they re-landed at Midway Island with just over 100 casualties, but they still used the tactics popular during World War I, gradually advancing under the cover of artillery fire, and stopping when they encountered obstacles.

The remaining fortifications and ruins on the island gave the remaining Japanese a chance to counterattack. The Japanese resistance was stubborn. Among them, there are some young recruits whose milk hair has not retreated, and it is even more brainwashed and completely crazy.

However, after all, the Midway strategy is not very deep. There is no suitable terrain and surrounding environment cover. After two weeks of fierce fighting, more than 1,800 Japanese troops on the island were cleared.

The Americans captured only more than 30 unconscious wounded and more than a hundred inter-Korean laborers. The rest of the Japanese army was annihilated in a battle to the death, but the casualties of the 27th Division climbed to more than 3,000, of which nearly half were killed.

Throughout the Battle of Midway, American casualties exceeded 5,000. In addition to the more than 500 casualties on the seriously wounded battleship Ohio and the more than 400 casualties caused by the sinking of two destroyers, the escort aircraft carrier Kolisim Bay, which was on the periphery, was sent into the sea with three torpedoes by the unwilling Japanese submarine that had escaped, and more than 1,100 people, including more than 500 soldiers of the 27th Division who were resting on board, sank into the sea.

In the Second Battle of Midway, the Americans, who regained control of Midway, also won strategically and tactically, but the cost was too great.

The one-to-one exchange with the Japanese, coupled with the fact that the entire 27th Division was completely disabled and required a long period of rest, made it somewhat unacceptable to the Americans.

In contrast, the Gilbert Islands landing battle, which took place at the same time, was even more unacceptable to the Americans.

The Americans realized from the outset that the Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands and Tuvalu Islands would not be able to circumvent the long chain of islands that would open up the Central and Southwest Pacific Pacifics.

And as long as a hole is broken, it will be easy to unblock this long chain of islands.

After World War I, the Marshall Islands were run by the Japanese, and the Americans did not know much about the layout above, so they did not dare to break through from here. In order to counter Samoa, the advancing base of the Americans, the Japanese army built an airport and port on Funafuti in the Tuvalu Islands.

The 27-kilometre-long and 16-kilometre-wide lagoon, surrounded by more than 30 atolls in Funafuti, is an excellent anchorage, and some of the remnants of the Japanese navy evacuated from mainland Australia and Fiji have been stationed here for a long time, carrying out the Japanese strategy of blocking step by step.

"We have Pago Pago and don't need this port for the time being! And now the Japanese are building an airfield on the Gilbert Islands, and this time it will be fatal to us! When it was time to plan the next attack, Spruance, chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet, proposed.

In the early days of the war, Japan, as in the original history, did not attach much importance to this British colony, and their goal was to attack all the way east with a powerful combined fleet.

As Australia was constantly suppressed by the United States and China, the Japanese, realizing the importance of air power over the ocean, were suffering from the lack of enough aircraft carriers, so they began to strengthen the construction of temporary airfields in various places.

The gentle terrain of the Gilbert Islands' many islands lended itself well to airfields, and thus became an important link in the chain of islands, where the Japanese were in the middle to support the naval fleets of the Marshall and Tuvalu islands at either end.

After the loss of Fiji Island, the Japanese intensified their efforts to build an airfield in the Gilbert Islands, and the Americans were aware of the Japanese intentions. Once the Japanese were given enough time, the Japanese would re-lock the skies over this long chain of islands with Army fighters, and even keep the Americans east of the national date line.

"Skip Tuvalu, let's attack Gilbert first!" Nimitz pondered for a long time, and finally made up his mind.

So the Americans, having occupied the southern part of Irian Island and no longer worried about the Australian Chinese army moving north, slowed down their offensive near Irian Island and instead put the offensive behind them, one at Midway Island and the other at Gilbert Islands.

Gilbert personally commanded Nimitz, and the main offensive force was also the Marines.

Another Smith, Commander Holland Smith of the 5th Amphibious Corps, threw himself into the attack before he received his lieutenant general's warrant.

But even though he and many of his elite Marines had experienced the actual landings on Kuah Island and Irian Island, he hit a nail in the nail in the coffin at Gilbert.

Although it was almost spring, the tides near Tavalu were still concentrated at night and early in the morning, and the short interval made it difficult for the American troops to gain a foothold on the island when it was difficult to provide more fire support at night, and it was easy to be driven overboard under the frantic counterattack of the Japanese.

This, combined with the coral reef terrain near Tavalu, makes it difficult for boats to approach, and even long distances require people to wade through the water. This undoubtedly provided the Japanese with countless live targets.

Tavalu was preached by the garrison Japanese Navy Rear Admiral Shibasaki Keiji that "the United States will not be able to attack it in 100 years with 1 million soldiers", and many fortifications were set up on it, most of which were semi-underground forts that had learned from experience, and their defensive capabilities were even stronger than those of Midway.

Coupled with the more than 4,000 soldiers stationed on Tavalu, the elite of the Japanese Marine Corps, and more than 2,000 engineers and Korean laborers, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is an impregnable wall, at least the US Marines who attacked and landed were hit with a large bag

More than 400 Japanese fighters also used five airfields on the Gilbert Islands and more than 1,300 American fighters to engage in another large-scale air battle. Although Japan still lagged behind in the air, it contained the air superiority of the Americans.

The Battle of Gilbert grew in size when Japanese warships from Marshall and Tuvalu and from Truk were also involved.