Chapter 46 it's better to come early

The U.S. military and the Mariana Islands are still separated by Truk and its islands, but except for air strikes, Nimitz never moved Truk. The "leapfrog tactic" was initiated by MacArthur. At this time, a consensus has been reached in the U.S. military. The U.S. military first took Kwajalein, and then took all the Marshall Islands. This is the successful use of this tactic.Inspired by this, Nimitz decided to take another daring move: bypass Truk, jump 1,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean, and march on the Northern Mariana Islands of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian. Different from the islands captured before, these islands are all in the core part of Japan's "absolute defense circle", that is, the so-called "middle line of defense". Serve as a springboard for long-range bombers and submarines to attack the Japanese mainland.Also, fighting so close to Japan would certainly force the Combined Fleet into battle and destroy it.

Compared with Nimitz's Great Leap Forward, MacArthur proposed another route to advance. The landing of the 1st Marine Division at Gloucester Point enabled the US military to directly threaten Rabaul. However, according to the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rabaul would be surrounded and not attacked.Therefore, MacArthur designed the New Guinea-Mindanao route, which would attack the Philippines via New Guinea. You have your plans and ideas, which is a natural thing. MacArthur's problem is that when he made cheese by himself, he still kept thinking about other people's share.Before Nimitz attacked the Marshall Islands, MacArthur asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to instruct Nimitz to cancel the attack centered on the Central Pacific and transfer the Fifth Fleet to support his combat operations.

Old Mai's domineering vigor can be felt across the Pacific Ocean, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff are full of super bosses, so how can they easily buy him?MacArthur's request was immediately and unceremoniously rejected. There is a saying that people who are too tall are more jealous, and those who live a clean world feel the same. MacArthur never thinks that his own requirements are outrageous, and the reason is still on others.Unable to get the approval of the "Presbyterian Church", he simply "leapfrogged" and wrote a letter directly to Wartime Secretary of War Stevenson, hoping that Stevenson would forward the letter to President Roosevelt.In the letter, he proposed: "Give me the command of the center line!"

Unsurprisingly, the letter sent was lost again.Although in MacArthur's view, the Secretary of the Army is "one of his own", this "one of his own" was obviously frightened by the arrogance of his subordinates. Just as MacArthur was yelling at the "Navy Cabal" in his residence as always, something unexpected happened to him. At Pearl Harbor, Nimitz invited top generals in the Pacific to a meeting to discuss strategy.This meeting was held under the background of the huge loss of the US military in the Battle of Betio Island. Naturally, MacArthur would not let go of this good opportunity to squeeze people, so he sent Chief of Staff Sutland, Commander of the Southwest Theater Air Force Kenny, Navy Admiral Kincaid and others attended the meeting as representatives.At this meeting, Sutlan easily connected Betio Island with the "Great Leap Forward".

Several targets of the "Great Leap Forward", that is, Guam, Saipan, and Tinian Island, each of which is larger than the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands, is closer to the Japanese mainland, and the Japanese land-based air force can provide support, otherwise, none of the Allied land-based aircraft could fly there. But here comes the problem: Betio Island is only two miles long and flat, and thousands of people died to occupy it. Guam is 25 miles long and mountainous. How much will it cost? After Sutland picked out the topic, other MacArthur subordinates joined in one after another.Kenny believed that the "Great Leap Forward" was nothing more than a "pretentious astonishment", while Kincaid said: "Any suggestion of using the Mariana Islands as a base disappoints me."

Under the furore, Nimitz, who was already under a lot of psychological pressure, couldn't bear it anymore.He accepted the suggestions of the participating generals and agreed to use New Guinea-Mindanao as the axis to conduct a one-way battle.To this end, he also sent someone to Washington with a copy of the minutes of the meeting, using his influence to persuade the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What Nimitz did was in line with his usual modesty and prudence, but this character had nothing to do with MacArthur.When he learned the results of the meeting from the representatives, MacArthur's first reaction was great surprise. Another idea was to take all the cheese in Nimitz's hands, not even a sesame seed - Nimitz's B-29 plane All were transferred to the Southwest Theater, and the Fifth Fleet was all given to Halsey, which was "my people."

The agreed-upon limited edition suddenly became an out-of-print, and even Sutlan disagreed: "Your Excellency, is this too much?" MacArthur didn't care: You said you have to leave room and be fair, but is there a word "fair" in the world? He waved his big pipe indifferently: "You can go to Washington to report for me. I don't know what is too much or not. I just want to fight for the honor of the United States." Proud things to share with others, MacArthur found Halsey, bragging: "I want to tell you something you may not know, they will transfer to me a large fleet completely under my command. I I also want to tell you that the British will also transfer a fleet to me. I hope that the naval operations will be commanded by an American, and no matter who is commanded, his position must be higher than that of the British, or at least the same level."

Speaking of this, MacArthur looked at his buddies with a smile: "Halsey, what do you want to do? If you do it with me, I will make you a big man that even Nelson never dreamed of." Who is Nelson?He is known as the greatest naval commander in British history.Of course Halsey is willing to become Nelson of the new era, or surpass Nelson as the old Mai said, but as an admiral, he has never heard of such a big move from above—no matter how good the official hat is, that would be too much. It is not something that can be blown by a strong wind. In addition, although Halsey was very close to MacArthur, he had a good relationship with Nimitz. He would not do anything to push his old friends aside for the sake of being in power.

In front of MacArthur, Halsey was noncommittal, and reported to Nimitz by telegram after returning.Nimitz was very angry when he heard about it. He knew that MacArthur was crazy, but he didn't expect to be so crazy.Pull the Fifth Fleet over?What a toad yawned--what a big yawn! At this time, Nimitz's situation has changed.The success of capturing the Marshall Islands dispelled the hesitation caused by the heavy casualties. Now he is convinced that the Fifth Fleet can not only occupy the Mariana Islands, but also support MacArthur. Naturally, Nimitz began to regret supporting the New Guinea-Mindanao Island-based offensive route. Just at this time, he received a letter from his boss, Admiral Ginger.

Ginger had read the copy of the meeting minutes sent by Nimitz and was very displeased.Isn't it just that Betio Island has suffered a bit, as for the retreat?He reprimanded in the letter: "I am surprised and indignant at your opinions. The method you proposed (that is, MacArthur's single-axis plan) is absurd. In addition, it does not conform to the resolution of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." It's better to come early than to come early.Ginger's letter was completely in line with Nimitz's wishes, so he immediately replied, expressing his willingness to return to the original strategic line.

This time it was MacArthur's turn to be furious, not only because of the failure of expectations, but also because of Nimitz's "backlash". MacArthur angrily wrote to Army Chief of Staff Marshall, requesting a trip to Washington, where he would present his opinions to Secretary of the Army Stevenson and President Roosevelt. It is naturally good to be able to come to Washington to state opinions in person, and the top management also wants to take this opportunity to bridge the differences between MacArthur and Nimitz to determine the best strategic decision.However, when the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked MacArthur to go to the meeting, he suddenly put on airs, excused his absence, and only sent Chief of Staff Sutland as a representative. Lao Mai always thinks that he is smarter than most people, but sometimes, he is actually the "most".Do you think that people in the "Presbyterian Church" can be contemptuous?Because of his absence, not only the senior officials of the joint meeting were deeply disappointed and dissatisfied, but also made MacArthur lose an opportunity to refute and fight for his own marching route. Nimitz did not have as deep qualifications as MacArthur, and he was not as arrogant as MacArthur. When the leader called, he went.While in Washington, Nimitz submitted a number of extensive memorandums to the joint meeting, trying to win support for the "Great Leap Forward." On March 11, the Joint Chiefs of Staff determined the final strategic plan, which absorbed the "Great Leap Forward" while also retaining the New Guinea-Mindanao route.On the surface, this is a compromise plan, that is, the two routes are parallel, but in fact it is more biased towards Nimitz's strategic conception. In this round, Nimitz won. To his surprise, when he returned to the Pacific Fleet headquarters in Pearl Harbor, he saw a telegram from MacArthur on the table.