Montgomery found that Ting Chief Chu was even aware of the personnel, and it seemed that the so-called "minced meat" operation (using Chief Chu Tingchang to go to Cyprus to deceive the German High Command) had failed at least in Chief Chu, that is, there was no need to hide it in front of him.

"I had anticipated that the offensive would be very difficult, and the Army had drawn the 3rd Infantry Division and had too many troops and air force to open up a new battlefield in Sumatra, and they had to be replaced by inexperienced Canadians, so they had to rely on the American Army. It is hoped that Commander-in-Chief Eisenhower will be able to coordinate our two armies as a whole. But I am still worried about the mountains of the island and the enemy's defenses. ”

"Your plan ......"

"My Eighth Army landed in the southeast, Patton's Seventh Army in the southwest, and then he crossed the central mountain range to Palermo......" Montgomery gestured on a scribbled map, "I will take here, Catania, and cut off the retreat of the German and Italian forces on the island." ”

"This plan will not work," Chu Tingchang said bluntly, "you are bound to make a mess when you are crowded with the American army, the road on the island is too narrow to pass through two large armies at the same time, this is a taboo for soldiers, the enemy's artillery fire will attack you fiercely, and you will not be able to move." As for the supplies, they will be piled up on the coast and will not be transported to the front line, while the German and Italian armies can take advantage of the mountains and retreat again and again until their potential is consumed. ”

Chu Tingchang even knows the narrowness of the road on the island clearly, and it seems that he has found the right person today. Montgomery certainly didn't believe that King Arthur relied on a wizard to guide his military plans and defeat his opponents, but now it seems possible.

"Am I worried about this? From what I know of Patton, he will rush headlong at the enemy's strongest defenses, and it will be difficult for the air force to destroy strong fortifications in the mountains, so I would like to ask you for advice on the use of your engineers. ”

"Hehehehe...... Chu Tingchang laughed, "the key is not the defense of Patton, the sappers, or even Catherine, but here ......" he pointed to the corner of the map that was about to disappear.

"You mean Messina?"

"Yes, this is it, let Barton go to Palermo, get the attention of the Germans...... And your troops, instead of attacking deep into the island, use the ring road, make a surprise attack here, cut off the possibility of the enemy fleeing back to Italy, and then ......"

"But even then, the living forces of the enemy remain?"

Montgomery asked, and Chu Tingchang thought to himself, why is this guy so brainless.

"I watched the sky at night, the axis is about to collapse, the Italian army has long been unwilling to fight, so just cut off its retreat, the military spirit will inevitably collapse, when the time comes, you have to consider the number of prisoner of war camps, what is the remaining tens of thousands of German troops? As the so-called soldiers surrender without a fight, what sappers are needed? What Barton? ”

Montgomery pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Yes, this is the best strategy, it's just ...... How did you guess the whole action? ”

"The Art of War: Fiction is real, reality is virtual; celestial phenomena, the replacement of yin and yang, the cycle repeats; As long as you grasp the subtlety, nothing is unpredictable. Hahaha......" Chu Tingchang laughed and withdrew, leaving Montgomery to ponder his words. Montgomery noticed that in fact, Chu Tingchang did not urinate, and apparently came here on purpose to light himself.

At the same time, the leaders' talks entered a critical juncture. Lao Chiang finally showed some courage and put forward a request to recover the concession. The reason, of course, is very simple, since it is a political conspiracy for the Japanese to return the British and American concessions to Wang Puppet, then the way to solve it is by no means for Chongqing to issue a statement declaring this move null and void, which is exactly in the hands of the enemy. There must be a joint Anglo-American declaration to abrogate all unequal treaties in China, thereby strengthening the orthodoxy of Chongqing.

Roosevelt was quite appreciative of Chiang's cheering up and supportive, anyway, those concessions were British, and now they are actually in the hands of the Japanese. But Churchill was still hesitating, he knew the political strategy, and knew that this was the only feasible solution, but he could not back down too much, at least Hong Kong should be saved. Of course, Churchill still invisibly felt the pressure exerted on him by Roosevelt, and this pressure ostensibly came from the inadvertent adjustment of the priority of material aid by the dumb senator named Truman. But in essence, it was actually Roosevelt, who tested the confidence of the British Empire, and it was also a rehearsal of the post-war adjustment of the international order.

He expected the British army to win both battles at the same time, and then to navigate the complex relationship and seek maximum benefits.

The battle for Sicily will be fought in a few days. The assault on Sumatra had actually begun, Wingate's troops and the reconnaissance detachments of the Special Air Service Regiment had already reached the island, and the Japanese were unusually poorly defended, not to mention the establishment of beachhead defenses, and their patrols could not even cover all the beaches. This was the sequelae of the 2nd Division being transferred to Burma and later transferred to Malaysia.

Wingate's telegram showed that if you attacked, you could win. Lord Mountbatten, who had gained some experience from landing in Dieppe, would command the 35,000-man landing. The seizure of the Sunda Strait was not a great threat to the Japanese Empire, but it was of special significance in counteracting the growing power of Chu Tingchang and the aggressive arrogance of the Americans.

Halsey's fleet was advancing rapidly, eager to swallow the enemy fleet in one gulp. U.S. bombers and submarines have seen the size of the Japanese fleet several times, identifying eight aircraft carriers, large and small. But Halsey doesn't care about its size. He believed that over the past six months, his task force 58 had built up sufficient technical and numerical superiority, the enemy's anti-ship *, and he did not pay attention to it, according to intelligence, those weapons could only be fired by land-based aviation and could be easily jammed. Essentially, he did not believe that weapons that were not controlled by humans could hit targets that were manipulated by humans. From the intelligence obtained from the Battle of the Andaman Sea, the Japanese anti-ship * was not fast, and if the gunners received early warning, and were more composed, they could effectively intercept. He has not yet gotten reports of incompatibility with near-* drugs and jamming devices.

Even though the Hellcat fighters are not yet in service, the high-speed TBF bombers are in place, about 150 km / h faster than the old TBD bombers, and by diving, it is possible to get rid of the Zero fighters and are not very easy to intercept by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Additional technical advantages come from radar, jamming equipment, and VT tube munitions.

The Japanese fleet hid through the darkness of the night, but was exposed again during the day. When the Japanese fleet was moving at full speed, the smoke from the heavy oil boilers could easily be spotted by army planes or submarines shuttling through the air. Halsey was sure the goal was at hand.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, Halsey spotted the formation of the Shoho aircraft carrier, which was the fastest part of Ozawa's fleet, and immediately took off fighters to attack, and he learned some of the contents of the Cairo Conference through passive radio listening, and apparently all parties agreed to launch a counteroffensive against the Axis powers on two fronts at the same time to promote their destruction. So now is the time to step up.

However, the Xiangfeng's newly installed electric reconnaissance enabled this fleet to discover the location of the US aircraft group in advance and avoid it. The new pulse radar used by the Japanese already has good range-finding capabilities, which strengthens the ability of fleet commanders to control the situation.

The Xiangfeng took the initiative to retreat, retreating to the large but slow mobile force headquarters, and in addition, several submarines carrying acoustic self-guidance* were cruising on the surface of the sea. They will be key players in this operation.

According to the latest tactics developed by Onishi, these submarines will always maintain a high speed on the surface, and even when launched*, they can stay on the surface as the situation occurs. He noted that the tactics of submarines hiding and fighting separately could not adapt to the decisive battle of the fleet, nor could they give full play to the advantages of the high speed, long range and seeker of the new Japanese type, so they had to be put into operation directly as a more effective part of the surface fleet, and only dived into the water when the enemy counterattacked. As for how high the submarine loss rate will be in such a risky operation, he has not carefully calculated.

The Yi-10 large submarine, which has a surface speed of up to 22 knots, even took off a Type 96 seaplane at 9 a.m. to actively seek the enemy. After the seaplane found smoke from the enemy fleet, it was pursued by the Japanese fleet in vain, and the American fighter planes that were returning to the sea found that a group of wild cats rushed down and beat them violently, shooting down the seaplane.

Ozawa was expected to arrive at the engaged waters around noon, and the sinking of the USS New Orleans also dispelled some of his team's doubts about the new type*, which could indeed establish a great advantage in naval warfare, if the enemy lacked countermeasures.

The first fighters took off from the Kaga with the task of reconnaissance, and today's Combined Fleet no longer relies on heavy seaplanes to complete reconnaissance, and in the rapidly changing battlefield, such information gathering speed is obviously not enough. The Zero fighters flew to the area where the seaplane was shot down, and their extremely long range will be conducive to long-term stay in the air to find targets.

After the group dispersed, a group of carrier-based aircraft returning to the USS Princeton was successfully tracked. The US radar discovered that the Japanese plane group was approaching, and as if it were facing a major enemy, they immediately took up fighter planes, but the Japanese planes saw the US fleet from a distance and turned back. There was no intent to belligerent. Halsey then adjusted the route. This avoids being ambushed by the enemy on the predicted course. By this time, both sides already knew that their opponents were nearby, but the American fleet was faster and more aggressive in its actions. However, the fact that both sides possess anti-aircraft warning radars makes the maneuver before the decisive battle more lengthy and complicated, and there will no longer be a one-sided information advantage.

At noon, Ozawa felt that the heat was about the same, and ordered the first wave of attack planes to take off, but it was still only a tentative and did not carry the valuable acoustic self-guide*, because once it was in the air, it would mean that the planes would not be able to carry these* back.

The radar of the US ship once again spotted the Zero fighter at a high altitude and took off the Wildcat fighter to intercept it. Halsey had already judged the approximate location of the Japanese aircraft carriers, but he was not in a hurry to seize the initiative in the first round of attack and defense, and he was confident that there would be no problem in repelling the Japanese attack waves. Because at that time, the enemy's deck dispatch was bound to be in a dilemma.