Gilbert's battle lasted for more than a month, and the Americans became more and more angry.

Although the Americans have obvious advantages in sea and air, they are still defeated on land and cannot completely destroy the Japanese permanent fortifications.

Small islands or atolls in small lands filled with tens of thousands of casualties from US troops, but some of them were still under the control of the Japanese.

"They don't have much supply, especially freshwater, and many places are not prepared enough. As long as they are trapped, they will always surrender!" Spruins suggested to Nimitz.

Due to the heavy casualties, Nimitz was under considerable pressure.

Compared with the Army, although the Marine Corps is constantly expanding, its number is only 430,000 now, and there are more than 100,000 in Europe and North Africa.

After experiencing the battles of Vanuatu, Guadalone and other battles, the Marine Corps removed more than 30,000 from the service list due to casualties. This battle was only in Gilbert. Before the Marshall Islands were fought, more than 2,000 bodies were transported back, which really caused the navy's morale to plummet.

If it weren't for the US Army's main attack on Irian Island, which was more damaged as it advances, I'm afraid the domestic pressure on the navy would have been greater, but it already made Nimitz feel very depressed.

"However, we need to control the Marshall Islands first!" Nimitz could only let go of Gilbert's difficult bones and focus his energy on the Marshall Islands.

One of the important purposes of launching the entire battle was to make the passage to Hawaii.

After the Battle of Midway, the U.S. Marine Corps also recovered Johnston Island during the palace collection stage.

Johnston Island covers an area of ​​only 1.5 square kilometers, and there is no source of tamsui water on it. Only more than 800 Japanese troops were stationed. In addition, there were only about a thousand Japanese troops retreating from near Midway Island, and there were no reinforcements. The supply was seriously insufficient. After two weeks of support, the Americans were conquered.

In this way, Hawaii's westward and southward passage has already been opened, and the rest need to be knocked on Marshall and Wake Island and gradually extend to Southeast Asia and Japan.

Marshall had no choice but to avoid it.

"The Japanese have been operating the Marshall Islands for many years, and I'm afraid this battle is not easy to fight!" Nimitz said heavily. He now felt MacArthur's mood. He was afraid that casualties would cause another uproar in the country after defeating the entire Marshall.

"Actually, we can surround many islands in Marshall without attacking them, trapping them until they surrender," Spruins suggested from the side.

"The Japanese are very stubborn. It is difficult to wait for them to surrender. And we don't have that much time to wait for them to run out of ammunition and food!" Nimitz said bitterly.

In the original history, Americans could calm down and advance little by little. The hard-to-kill bones could be bypassed until the Japanese finally surrendered. But now that a powerful China has emerged, it is naturally not so leisurely.

If Americans want to make big moves in Southeast Asia, they need to open up the Hawaiian channel to support logistics.

The United States is also worried about China's attitude. Once it turns against them, even if the Americans occupy the Philippines, they may be driven away by China soon. Another one will flee.

For future strategies, we have to understand the threats on the channel. However, some of China's actions in Southeast Asia have always given Americans a pressure to tighten their time.

"The Chinese navy is becoming more and more powerful in the South China Sea!" Nimitz sighed.

The US military just obtained the latest information. Recently, China also launched a large-scale landing operation in the South China Sea.

...

"Sir! The stone tablet has been erected!" A sailor saluted Lin Zun.

Lin Zun looked at the lines of small characters under the three large characters Taiping Island above, and couldn't help but feel a surge of pride in his heart.

At his feet, he had taken back the largest island and reef in the South China Sea from the Japanese.

Although the Fujian-based Navy's position in the Chinese National Defense Forces navy was a bit embarrassing, Lin Zun was the first group of Fujian-based officers to get closer to the past under the vanguard army.

It was just because of the lack of talent in the Chinese naval forces that Lin Zun had been in naval academies and in exchanges with German naval officers for a long time.

His several military achievements were mainly due to the submarine attacks he learned from Germany, and he rarely had the opportunity to fight on the surface.

The Battle of the Yellow Sea that sunk the Musashi last year made Lin Zun, who led a group of young naval cadets to intern on German warships but failed to catch up, was quite regretful, but not long after. An opportunity made him very happy.

He became the captain of the Pingyuan cruiser, preparing for the recovery of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea.

For more than half a year, Lin Zun took a group of destroyers, frigates and numerous submarines to intercept Japanese cargo ships, and even some seaside fortifications, while exploring the terrain of various regions of the South China Sea.

With the "South China Sea Waterway" and the long-term experience accumulated by Chinese fishermen, as well as the cloned charts and marine intelligence collected from the data rooms of various countries, the Chinese Navy already has very complete information.

The Chinese submarine troops have been cruising between China and Nanyang for a long time, and have also initially figured out the sea conditions in various places.

The only thing left is Lin Zun to integrate these forces and carry out targeted training on island capture.

The final order was not issued until February 1944. When Lin Zun saw that the list of commanders in charge of seizing the island was still his name, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After years of hard work, it’s time to unsheath the sword.

A fleet of 1 Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, 1 Cleveland-class light cruiser, 4 Killing-class destroyers and 7 frigates began to head towards many islands and reefs in the South China Sea under the pressure of a second-class aircraft carrier.

The Japanese navy in the South China Sea is not weak, but there are not many troops stationed on many islands and reefs in the South China Sea.

Even though the Japanese failed in the South China Sea and began to take advantage of many islands and reefs in the South China Sea, except for the slightly more troops on Taiping Island, there were still very few troops on other islands and reefs, and there were no permanent fortifications.

Facing the Japanese garrison on some large islands, which only has one squad and one squad, the size of the ship cannons and fighter jets rush, basically sweeping all the way.

Only on Taiping Island, the largest island in the South China Sea, did Lin Zun's fleet encounter a little more resistance.

There is fresh water and fertile land on Taiping Island, which can alleviate the logistical pressure. After the Japanese army seized it from the French, they stationed troops on it.

When the Chinese cargo ships were blocked from moving south, the Japanese built a submarine base on Taiping Island. There was also a Marine Corps with more than 600 people stationed.

However, these are still not enough for Lin Zun's fleet attacks.

The nine 203mm naval guns on the Baltimore-class heavy patrol were enough to knock on the recommended fortifications built by the Japanese. Even the two permanent fortifications built with reinforced concrete and steel plates were blown into the sky by bombs taken off the aircraft carrier.

Lin Zun felt that before he could fight, Taiping Island was swept away by the PT-76 amphibious tanks of the accompanying Marine Corps.

At the cost of four amphibious tanks being damaged and 32 casualties, China completely recovered Taiping Island, annihilated more than 800 Japanese soldiers, and sank two submarines docked in the Japanese submarine base.

In just one week, Lin Zun recovered more than a dozen islands and reefs, and erected boundary monuments that Meng Xiang had prepared long ago on the main islands and reefs.

Meng Xiang didn't have such a good memory. Except for a few big islands who knew the names and kept them, the others were selected from the call for manuscripts of the people who actively participated in the collection of names.

Although this series of results is not as conspicuous as the American offensive, it is much better than the Americans' encounters.

Of course, this is also related to the sudden attacks of China and the Japanese's lack of attention to these islands and reefs. In any case, China's series of island-grabbing operations in the South China Sea attracted the attention of Americans.

Although the target of landing is only those islands and reefs in the South China Sea, it gave Americans a great sense of crisis.

Since China can climb those islands and reefs, it means it has the ability to climb some islands in the Philippines.

The Japanese army was not forged defenses in every part of the Philippines. With the support of Chinese forces and even natives in the Philippines, the Chinese landing forces easily opened up gaps and gained a foothold somewhere in the Philippines.

Indigenous people in Southeast Asia and Australia were extremely disgusted with British and French colonists. Many of them turned to the Japanese, but some of them were not very disgusted with China. In addition, the Chinese forces have been operating in various places for many years and the exposed cruel faces of the Japanese army, many places welcome the arrival of the Chinese.

Once the Chinese gain a foothold, the issue of ownership in some parts of the Philippines will become a quarrel. Unless the Americans really make a decision to turn against each other, it may be difficult to solve.

Facing this news, the top Americans had to continue to speed up the pace and seize time.

...

"The Sansha has already erected a boundary monument in Zengmu's dark sand. Now we turn north." Lin Zun wandered in front of the stone tablet engraved with Taiping Island for a while, and ordered the fleet that had been resting on the island for a day to continue setting off, "Target, Huangyan Island!" ^-^^-^

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