Chapter 58 A record that is ashamed to mention

Halsey chose to go forward bravely. While commanding the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier formation to cruise around Samoa, he waited for the refueling "Yorktown" formation to arrive. On January 24, 1942, "Yorktown" finally rendezvoused with "Enterprise", and the marines carried on board began to land in Samoa. The next day, all the Marines landed in Samoa.Halsey led two aircraft carrier formations to Gilbert and Marshall. Just like before the Nanyun Fleet attacked Pearl Harbor, the Halsey Fleet also adopted the method of radio silence, but Nimitz was still able to keep in touch with them through the radio .

Nimitz has just received good news. The US military's reconnaissance submarine discovered that the Japanese army had fortified the Marshall Islands, but it was not as strong and complete as originally feared.More importantly, the Japanese aircraft carriers were not there either, and they were supporting the Japanese landing on other islands. Killing requires blood, and saving lives requires thorough rescue.In the original surprise attack plan, the scope of the attack was limited to the coral islands in the northeast of the Marshall Islands. Nimitz suggested that Halsey should take this opportunity to infiltrate into the heart of the archipelago, that is, directly attack Kuwa, which may be the location of the local Japanese army headquarters. Jalin Island.

At dawn on January 31, 1942, the Halsey fleet launched an attack on the Marshall Islands.Within five hours, the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier took turns dispatching planes to bombard the Kwajalein anchorage continuously, turning the attack into a small "Japanese version of the Pearl Harbor incident." At 12:00 noon, the air strike ended, and the US ships moved closer to the aircraft carrier. When the sun went down, the Halsey fleet returned to Pearl Harbor. In this surprise attack, not only reporters were interviewed with the ship, but the radio station also carried out a live broadcast.The Nanyun Fleet was chasing the Halsey Fleet at high speed. When they heard the broadcast, they knew that Halsey had done everything they needed to do, so they turned around and headed home, washed and slept at home.

According to the pilot's report, Halsey estimated that he had sunk two Japanese submarines, a light cruiser, and a light aircraft carrier. The damage to the shore was also great, and the price paid by the US military was very small. This is the first sea and air counterattack launched by the United States since the Pearl Harbor incident. The American press and public opinion circles have been looking forward to this for a long time. Uplifting: "Avenge Pearl Harbor!" The frustration brought about by the Pearl Harbor incident was finally replaced by "we did it at last". On February 5, 1942, the Halsey fleet hoisted the flag representing victory, returned to Pearl Harbor beamingly, and received a grand welcome.The warship was approaching the pier, and before the gangway was lowered, Nimitz boarded the warship on a hanging plank, held Halsey's hand and shouted: "Good job!"

From the bottom of his heart, Nimitz can be said to be full of gratitude to Halsey.Not long after he landed in the Pacific Fleet, he was at a very delicate moment. The criticism of the previous attack plan reflected the predicament of the head of the family from one aspect.Well now, the victory is enough to dispel people's doubts about the new commander of the Pacific Fleet, and he will have more room to play in the future. The welcome ceremony also illustrates this well.An admiral who had been fiercely opposed to the surprise attack followed Nimitz aboard and joked with his finger on Halsey's face: "Damn Bill (Halsey's full name is Bill Halsey), there's nothing wrong here. , what are you doing back here?"

Halsey became the first naval hero Americans could be proud of since the Pacific War, and reporters mobbed him.It is said that Halsey has a face resembling an alien, but he does not speak as calmly as Nimitz. When he talks about how to deal with the enemy, his tone is like a machine gun, which is both spicy and funny, so he was immediately criticized by the reporters. welcome. Through the interpretation of Shenghua's wonderful pen, Halsey was successfully built as the nemesis of the Japanese, a legendary figure, and was called "Halsey Bull" by the press. Finally, he had a chance to feel proud, but the actual effect of this surprise attack was not great.The U.S. pilots responsible for observing the battle results were inexperienced and unable to identify the types of ships. The Japanese army did not sink a single large warship, submarine, or aircraft carrier. What was sunk was actually only a transport ship and two small ships. In addition, the pilots’ judgment on the degree of damage Not accurate either, the facilities on the island were not significantly damaged.

Halsey's surprise attack did not slow down the Japanese attack.Since then, Nimitz has planned several attacks, but like the first time, these actions have limited blows to the Japanese army, almost like scratching the surface.Even Halsey himself soon admitted that the raids had little effect, and one officer who participated in the raids put it more bluntly: "The Japanese don't care about the raids." Nimitz himself is low-key and has no record for a long time. Reporters are less and less interested in him, and no news from the Pacific Fleet can make the headlines of the newspapers.On the contrary, MacArthur who ran to Australia, although he had been inactive for a long time, was still able to steal the limelight. The phrase "I will go back" is enough to dazzle the Americans.

For Nimitz, it is a good thing that the reporters do not come to make noise, but the greater pressure comes from within the military and political circles. When Nimitz's new officer took office, many people sent praises without hesitation. Later, seeing that the Pacific Fleet didn't seem to have made much progress, their emotions gradually changed, and the disappointment on their faces was obvious. Among Nimitz's superiors, only Ginger was satisfied with Nimitz's attack. Secretary of the Navy Knox has not communicated with Nimitz since he sent a telegram from the news interview.This made Nimitz very disturbed. He expressed his worries in a letter to his wife: "If I can work in the Pacific Fleet for another six months, I will be lucky."

Of course, Nimitz also hopes that he can produce results as soon as possible, but the conditions do not allow it.Ginger once asked Nimitz to transfer 6 battleships stationed on the west coast of the United States to participate in the battle, but these battleships were too old and lacked anti-submarine and air defense capabilities. Only aircraft carrier formations can come and go freely, but they face the embarrassment that close-range attacks are fruitless and long-distance attacks are too risky. Nimitz also thought of using submarines.He is a well-known submarine expert of the U.S. Navy. If submarines are used to attack Japanese oil tankers and cut off the oil transportation line from Japan to the East Indies, Japan's war machine will soon stop functioning.

However, the record of the U.S. submarine force also disappointed Nimitz.As of the end of April 1942, Nimitz dispatched about 50 submarines, but only a few Japanese ships were sunk, and only 4 ships exceeded 6,000 tons. At the same time, the same number of German submarines were cruising in the Atlantic Ocean, sinking There are 271 Allied warships, totaling 1.6 million tons. Such a disparity discredited the U.S. submarine warfare, so much so that Nimitz was ashamed to mention it. Just when the Navy's attack was at a trough, the Army proposed an attack plan. Their attack target was far enough and big enough: Tokyo, Japan!