It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 271 | Dragon Dragon Dragon? (Two Chapters Combined)

Located on a deserted island in the vast ocean, the sunset paints the western horizon where the sky meets the sea, creating a breathtaking sunset view that never gets old.

A sea breeze blew by, flags fluttered on the flagpole, and mid- to high-ranking officers of the 8th Mechanized Infantry Division arrived one after another at the command post conference room in the center of the base.

Everyone was excited, thinking that the time had finally come to set off and they would no longer have to stay in this godforsaken, boring place.

But the content of this meeting took everyone by surprise.

Lin Zhen exclaimed incredulously, "They're not going to beat up the Russians again?"

Chief of Staff Huang Chen also expressed his doubts, saying, "We are a field army, we have not received amphibious landing training, how can we fight this kind of battle?"

The officers began to whisper among themselves.

Seeing the surprise and confusion on everyone's faces, Shang Ke gently tapped the table and then said, "I know you all find this unbelievable, but before we discuss military issues, I need to explain it to you first."

After a pause, Shank continued, "The states in America have a relatively high degree of autonomy and independence, which is different from our country. If the situation becomes turbulent, the prestige of the federal government weakens, and there are major disagreements among the various factions at the top, it is very likely that the states will become independent and disobedient."

Generally speaking, people's knowledge is limited, often confined to areas they are good at.

These days, the average level of education is not high. Even in the elite mechanized 8th Infantry Division, there aren't many college graduates. Most officers went to military academies after graduating from high school. Moreover, without the internet, sources of knowledge are limited and acquiring them is quite difficult.

Therefore, Shang Ke explained it in great detail.

"The war is still ongoing, the situation is unclear, and there are signs of deterioration. The most respectable thing to do is for our country to accept the invitation to send troops to help us. However, the upper echelons of the United States have not yet been unified, and we cannot wait any longer."

"We must hold onto California's oil, and the U.S. Pacific Fleet must not be left in a state of flux, either by being clearly under our control or by being destroyed."

"The current size of our navy is insufficient to counter the joint operations of so many fleets. The large warships currently under construction in major shipyards will take at least a year and a half to complete. After completion, they will need to undergo three to six months of training to achieve combat readiness. This two-year gap is the most dangerous time."

"Even if things go in the worst possible way, controlling the Hawaiian Islands will buy us a lot of time and strategic maneuvering in the Pacific. Okay, that's it, that's the strategic cause and effect."

For a moment, the conference room was completely silent, with only the whooshing sound of the sea breeze passing through the cracks in the windows.

After a long silence, Zhang Anyuan broke the silence first, saying with difficulty, "It's really difficult for us to take Hawaii after the decision was changed halfway. It's one thing that we haven't practiced beach landing, but we don't even have landing craft."

His frank honesty resonated with the others.

Shang Ke, who remained calm, glanced at him and continued, "Now let's get back to the military issue."

Upon hearing this, everyone present immediately stopped their hushed conversation and stood at attention.

Shang Ke calmly said, "The General Staff (General Staff) must have thought of what you are worried about. A landing fleet set off eight days ago and will be here soon. There will be two battalions of marines to help. However, there are not many ships for the landing, only five medium landing ships and one large landing ship. We will discuss the specific allocation later."

Upon learning that the Marine Corps would be providing support, everyone felt relieved and much more relaxed.

Huang Chen stared at the map and said, "Midway is closer to Hawaii. We can't shirk this responsibility. Our division will have to be the vanguard."

"Commander, Oahu is a fortress, it might be tough to take it down. How many ships will the Navy send to support us?" asked Shen Tao, commander of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Regiment.

Shang Ke shook his head and refused, saying, "It's a secret. The size of the fleet cannot be disclosed. The navy has its own plans."

Then, several staff officers hung up a huge map of the Hawaiian Islands and Oahu, with detailed markings of the garrison forces.

Because of the close exchanges between the two countries this year, the United States has relaxed its scrutiny of personnel sent abroad by the United States, so various seemingly confidential intelligence has been obtained effortlessly.

Considering that everyone was 'trapped' on this remote island and there was no need to worry about leaks of secrets, and that the matter had not yet reached the stage of detailed planning, Mr. Shang decided to fully promote military democracy and have all the senior and middle-ranking officers of the division gather together to discuss the operational concept for capturing Hawaii.

Perhaps the ruling government's top leadership was indeed very thorough in its preparations, harboring no wishful thinking, and acting rationally and sternly.

However, Shang Ke genuinely didn't want things to develop to that point.

It sounds cool to fight against the whole world with the power of a single unified federal state, and it would certainly establish an invincible position, but it would definitely be quite difficult.

Damn it! Why aren't those guys in the upper echelons of America backing down? Shank thought to himself.

Sunset and moonrise.

With the issuance of top-secret instructions, the General Headquarters and the General Staff were extremely busy, and many documents were carried by special envoys on their way to the destination for delivery.

After the landing fleet from the mainland arrived, the two sides discussed the action plan in a hurry and then transferred troops to landing ships.

The General Staff's opinion was to directly land on the core island of Oahu, and the entire 8th Mechanized Infantry Division also agreed to defeat the enemy with one strike, without having to consider other islands.

If the goal is to capture Oahu, the Harewa region in the northwest is the only viable landing point.

Because the mountains on both the east and west sides of Oahu were fortified with strong artillery, and the American army deployed numerous coastal artillery pieces to protect Pearl Harbor, it was almost impossible to launch a direct assault and land attack there.

The Navy has stated that since there are other options—the Hallewa area—there is no need for a direct confrontation and a forced attack on Pearl Harbor, otherwise the fleet would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

The devastation suffered by the Royal Navy at the Gallipoli Campaign is still fresh in everyone's memory, and unless absolutely necessary, navies of all nations will inevitably avoid engaging in firefights with coastal defenses.

The landing plan was quickly finalized—two battalions of Marines would be responsible for the most difficult beach landing; three battalions of the 22nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment would be deployed on three medium-sized landing ships; and a tank company and an artillery battalion would be deployed on the large landing ship.

Our sea-to-land projection capability is limited to this; we lack landing ships, with only five medium-sized landing ships and one large landing ship in total.

After those battalions landed, the landing speed of subsequent troops would be very slow because the Harewa area lacked decent docks and port facilities.

In reality, the development of amphibious warfare has been very slow, especially in terms of specialized landing ships, which are still in a relatively primitive stage.

The United Kingdom and the Great Unified Federation were pioneers in this field, initiating research and development projects around the same time—at the end of 1939.

Several landing ships of the Federal Navy were finalized in design six months ago and quickly received orders for nearly a thousand ships.

洞庭湖级大型登陆舰空载排水量1850吨，满载4500吨，可以运送25～30辆坦克，又或者是1200～1500名士兵。

The Chaohu-class medium landing ship has an empty displacement of 990 tons and a full load displacement of 2300 tons. It can transport 10 tanks or 500 to 600 soldiers.

Several contractors confidently assured that the construction speed would increase rapidly.

For example, the Dongtinghu-class large landing ships, although the initial construction cycle of the first batch took four months, will be accelerated for each subsequent batch, and it is even hoped that the construction cycle can be reduced to two and a half months after two years.

In fact, the insufficient number of landing ships is one of the reasons why the national defense navy hopes that its country will postpone its participation in the war. The navy believes that once it has enough landing ships to transport two or three corps across the ocean, it will be able to seize the Suez Canal quickly.

Shang Ke calculated that, based on the current production scale, over a hundred landing ships would be completed in a month or two.

Perhaps we really can officially participate in the war this year?

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What worries Shank right now is that, although the Navy has promised that the fleet and carrier-based aircraft will provide fire support throughout the entire landing operation.

But no matter how he asked, the naval liaison officer remained vague and refused to give a clear answer on the specifics of the arrangements.

This infuriated him, and he sent a telegram to the General Staff complaining, berating the Navy for being secretive and dishonest. "This is a matter of great importance! How can they not even clearly state the corresponding support firepower configuration?"

After all this commotion, the navy finally sent a telegram the next day informing them of the general situation. The message was that the fleet was also carrying out a highly classified top-secret operation, which had to be kept secret. They could only say that three or four aircraft carriers would provide air support for the landing operation.

The telegram was signed by Lu Quan, Chief of Naval Staff.

"Huh? Didn't the General Staff say that the fleet they sent included six aircraft carriers? What's going on?" Shang Ke clearly remembered that the telegram he sent after reading it and then destroyed it stated in black and white that there were six aircraft carriers and five battleships.

The liaison officer looked extremely troubled, and after hesitating for a long time, he said, "Commander Shang, the fleet has other missions, not just helping to occupy Hawaii."

Aha?

Several strange images flashed through Shang Ke's mind.

He frowned involuntarily, hesitated, and finally lowered his voice in surprise, "Several aircraft carriers have gone to carry out other top-secret missions? Really?"

Shifting stars.

Until the very last deadline, despite the friendly reminders and urgings from the Great Unified Federation, the American leadership remained slow and hesitant.

With the situation now at this point, and following the order, the massive fleet and the ship carrying over ten thousand officers and soldiers weighed anchor and set sail eastward toward Hawaii...

A few days passed quietly.

West Coast, early morning, San Diego Naval Base.

Today the sky is high and the clouds are wide, the wind is calm and the sea is tranquil, making it a perfect time to go out to sea.

Unfortunately, the Enterprise and Lexington are not yet able to set sail; they are undergoing repairs and will have to wait at least another half week.

Not far from them were the battleships USS California and USS New Mexico.

Thousands of workers and soldiers had just woken up, had a quick breakfast, and then went about their duties.

What a vibrant and bustling scene!

However, unbeknownst to anyone, a fleet painted in gray and white was sailing on the azure sea nearly two hundred kilometers to the northwest.

The three aircraft carriers maintained a considerable distance and were slowly turning to a headwind course, while a dozen reconnaissance cruisers and destroyers were on high alert on the outskirts of the fleet, and oil tankers and supply ships followed far behind.

Enclosed bow, open hangar, wooden flight deck, detached funnel...

This doesn't seem to fit the design characteristics of the American Navy's aircraft carriers at all!

Because these are the three ships of the Federal Defense Navy: Minjiang, Wujiang, and Zhujiang.

"Left rudder."

"Yes, sir! Left helm!"

On the bridge of the flagship Wujiang, the rising sun radiated brilliant light, so bright that it was blinding.

Captain Shen Changyuan squinted and gave the order: "Hold on, forward three steps, prepare for takeoff."

As is well known, when launching carrier-based aircraft, aircraft carriers choose to sail against the wind to increase the relative speed (airspeed) between the aircraft and the air to obtain greater lift.

One small detail is that the aircraft carrier does not sail completely against the wind, but maintains a slight angle so that the oncoming sea breeze will blow the exhaust gas coming out of the smokestacks away from the aft deck at an angle, so as not to affect the visibility of the carrier-based pilots.

"How is it? Have you eaten and drunk your fill?"

"This time we must achieve a resounding victory!"

"No way, to be honest, I think what we're doing is a bit unfair."

"What else can we do? The higher-ups have already done their best. We can only prevent future troubles."

"Tsk, what a pity. I never thought my first time on the battlefield would be stabbing someone in the back."

Dozens of ground crew members were busy turning the propellers of carrier-based aircraft and disarming aerial bombs and torpedoes.

The final work is complete, and more than thirty carrier-based aircraft are ready to take off.

"Get ready! Two minutes to go!"

"All ground crew, retreat!"

The pilots quickly pulled up their cockpit canopies, and the ground crew jogged away.

7:15.

Beside the bridge of the Wujiang, a major solemnly raised a signal gun into the air and pulled the trigger.

As the red signal flare soared into the blue sky, the air navigation officer, holding small flags in both hands, immediately waved the flags to signal the carrier-based aircraft to take off.

Fighter jets are at the forefront because they don't need to carry heavy bombs or torpedoes and have the shortest takeoff distance.

The first fighter jet roared out and took off in the blink of an eye, followed by the second and the third...

The carrier-based aircraft that took off first circled not far ahead of the fleet, patiently waiting until the subsequent dive bombers and torpedo bombers joined up to form a formation.

About half an hour later, a formation of over a hundred aircraft surged toward the San Diego Naval Base.

8:05.

In Phoenix, at the Secretary of State's temporary residence, the secretary was stirring coffee while making a phone call.

She had just hung up the phone when Hedl-Hel arrived and asked, "Scarlett, hasn't Ambassador Zhong arrived yet?"

“I asked them, and the ambassador has been gone for more than ten minutes. He may arrive soon.”

"it is good."

Hull has been very distressed for the past week.

Because the climate in Phoenix is ​​quite different from that on the East Coast, he was experiencing some discomfort due to the change in environment and suffered from constipation. The meeting with Ambassador Liu Zhaowen, originally scheduled for 8:00 AM, has been delayed until now.

Speak of the devil, and he appears. The embassy and the temporary residence were not far apart, and Liu Zhaowen arrived with a smile. The two shook hands and greeted each other, then went to sit down to the side.

"My old friend, you still don't look well. I think it's a problem with your stomach?" Liu Zhaowen pointed to his stomach and said in a mysterious tone, "How about this, I'll ask someone to prescribe a medicine for you to regulate your system?"

Hel gave a wry smile and coughed, saying, "Liu, thank you for your kindness, but I'm fine."

"So what brings you to me today?"

"After careful consideration by the President, we hope that you will send a reasonable number of troops under unofficial designation to assist in the defense of the Great Lakes industrial region. The majority of the Senate agrees or does not object."

(End of this chapter)