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Text 113. The attitude of a powerful country

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    After occupying Malaita Island, the Republican Army did not rush to capture Guadalcanal Island, which was heavily defended by the US-Australian coalition forces. Instead, they chose the weakly defended Makilla Island as the target of the attack.  The Republican Fleet and the U.S. Fleet went all out, and the two sides went through several months of sea and air battles around Makira Island. However, since 1944, three large military airports on Malaita Island by the Republican Army have been completed and put into use.  After that, the U.S. military lost its air superiority, and the balance of victory and defeat tilted to the side of the Republican Army.

    The initial problem of the United States was that there was a certain gap between the aircraft performance and the Republican Army. However, after absorbing the British "Spitfire" fighter technology, starting in the autumn of 1943, the P-51c fighter jet with excellent performance began to enter service.  In terms of performance, it has completely caught up with the level of the Republican Army.

    Three years after entering the war, the war potential of the United States has been fully tapped. Its strong industrial capabilities have enabled it to manufacture more than 28 million tons of ships of various types, more than 100,000 combat aircraft, and more than 40,000 tanks.  It has exceeded the military production capacity of Republic of China.

    But the problem with the United States is that it has to take care of the four major battlefields of Britain, Soviet Russia, Africa and the Pacific. The Germans have consumed nearly one-third of the industrial capacity of the United States, while the Republican Army focuses on the Pacific battlefield, and the African battlefield is only  The Italians needed some assistance for their armaments.

    Due to the influence of the "Europe first, Asia later" strategy, the Americans only invested less than half of their strength in the Pacific battlefield. This is different from the Republican Army, which invested most of its energy here. Therefore, the U.S. military has never been able to reverse its passivity on the battlefield.  situation.

    Both sides have concentrated most of their energy on the Southwest Pacific battlefield. The Republican Army has invested 22 army groups, 12 Marine divisions, two main fleets, 9 task forces with a total of 18 aircraft ships, and nearly 30,000 troops on this front.  combat aircraft, with a total strength of 3.6 million personnel.

    On the other hand, the US military has also invested 65 army divisions and 4 marine divisions in the Australian battlefield, plus 20 divisions of the Australian army and 21 divisions of the Japanese army. The navy has 22 aircraft ships and about 28,000 more aircraft.  combat aircraft.  The total strength is 2.7 million.

    The gap between the two sides lies in the number of soldiers and fighter aircraft performance. The US-Australia-Japanese coalition is also equipped with about 15,000 early-stage fighters with backward performance. There is a big gap between the performance of these aircraft and the Republican Army, and it is difficult to complete the task of seizing air supremacy on the battlefield.  .

    In the past nearly four months, the Republican Army did not choose to forcefully land on Guadalcanal.  Instead, they continue to conduct small-scale landing experiments.  For the Marine Corps, the complex tropical island of Guadalcanal forms their best amphibious warfare training ground.  Considering the overall strategy, the General Staff has delayed issuing an order to launch a general attack on the South Solomon Islands in order to contain the main force of the US fleet in the Southwest Pacific.  General Chen Shiying, commander-in-chief of the Southwest Pacific Theater, has been using sea and air sieges and small-scale landings to attack the US military on Guadalcanal in order to weaken the fighting spirit of the US military.

    "Our reinforcements are on the way, and Guadalcanal is defended by tens of thousands of heroic Marines. For months, we have repelled fierce enemy attacks one after another, and we will defend it."  Australia's forward position. Until the day the counterattack begins"

    "Damn it, tell MacArthur, if the naval reinforcements don't come up, I will order the surrender!" Vandergrift cursed him bitterly at the Allied headquarters on Guadalcanal, not far from Henderson Airport.  His immediate boss, after the Chinese captured Malaita, he realized that the Allies could not hold Guadalcanal at all, but the General Staff wanted to build a line from Fiji to Tuvalu and New Caledonia.  The defense gained time, and Vandergrift was ordered to defend Guadalcanal.

    Vandergrift commanded the 1st and 4th U.S. Marine Divisions.  The Army's 27th Division and the Australian 15th Division were trapped on Guadalcanal for nearly four months and endured endless bombings by the Communists.  Rift earned a reputation that made him an "American Hero" and a promotion to Vice Admiral.

    Although MacArthur repeatedly boasted in newspapers that he would be able to hold the Southern Solomon Islands.  However, Vandegrift, who served as the commander-in-chief of the front line, understood very well that the Republican Army continued to conduct small-scale landing operations on Guadalcanal, but had no intention of occupying the entire Guadalcanal. They wanted to use this place to secure the US fleet.  Tethered to death in the Southwest Pacific battlefield.

    He has stated this point of view to Nimitz and Admiral Golim countless times.  The two admirals basically agreed with him, but Washington still required the navy to stick to Guadalcanal based on political needs.

    After Makira Island was captured by the Republican Army.  Vandegrift realized that the Republican Army would land on Guadalcanal in the near future, and began to demand evacuation. Confining Guadalcanal would only put the four coalition divisions on a dead end.

    In the past few months, the Republican Army has only continued to carry out air strikes on Guadalcanal and has not taken the initiative to conduct large-scale landing operations. It seems that the US military has maintained the front.  MacArthur, who was good at publicity and journalismSuccessfully describing the situation of this battle as "the Chinese Navy's attack was thwarted", under the vigorous publicity of American newspapers, the Marines defending Guadalcanal became "American heroes" overnight.

    Considering Vandegrift's identity, MacArthur agreed to the Vice Admiral's retreat to Tuvalu, but left the 1st and 4th Marine Divisions to continue to resist. After all, a Vice Admiral and "American Hero"  If captured by the Chinese, it would be a huge blow to the American people.

    "I will never abandon my troops. If I can't retreat with them, I will fight with them until the end. Even if they surrender, I will be with them!" Vandergrift will never agree.  Like MacArthur, he shamelessly abandoned his troops and fled to Australia.

    The two have been in constant litigation over the withdrawal issue since February.

    Although the Marine Corps is a force that "grandma doesn't care for and uncle doesn't love", the Army believes that they belong to the Navy, and the Navy is prejudiced against this group of "comatriots" who cannot fight at sea, but after all, this force is still affiliated with the Navy.  In the name of the Pacific Fleet.  After carefully analyzing the reports from all aspects, Nimitz still felt that if he stuck to Guadalcanal, given the current strength of the Pacific Fleet, he would definitely be in danger.

    After repeated weighing, Nimitz went beyond MacArthur, agreed to Vandegrift's request for a retreat, and ordered the Third Fleet and the Southwest Pacific Fleet to fully assist in completing the retreat from Guadalcanal.

    The South Solomon Islands are within the overlapping command range of the Pacific Fleet and the Southwest Pacific theater commanded by MacArthur. After Nimitz issued the withdrawal mission, under the escort of Halsey Fleet and Fletcher Fleet, Rear Admiral Turner commanded a force of  87 fast transport ships converted from destroyers began to withdraw from the garrison on Guadalcanal overnight.

    The entire retreat was conducted at night. Due to daytime aerial bombardment, it was difficult for the U.S. fleet to enter the waters near the South Solomon Islands. However, before the Republican army completed its landing preparations, Vandergrift had four of them.  Most of the divisions had evacuated Guadalcanal.

    The difference in concepts between the East and the West is reflected here. In the West, military commanders can ignore orders from their superiors and order a retreat when they think the situation is unfavorable. This preserves their own strength, and they will not be found guilty and serve time for this.  , at most, he will be dismissed dishonorably.  In the East, generals who retreat without permission are very likely to be executed, which is one of the reasons why Easterners fight to the death regardless of damage.

    In the East, it is normal for surrenderers to commit treason, because the entire people will not accept a loser. In the eyes of Westerners, sometimes losers are also heroes. This is not the reason why their surrenderers rarely commit treason, because  People still regard them as heroes.  For thousands of years, the killing of the weak has been one of the reasons for this situation. Since the Battle of Changping, the history of the East has recorded the fact of countless killings and surrenders, causing the people of the East to prefer to die in battle rather than surrender.  psychology, because the result of laying down weapons may be to be massacred, and the result would be worse than death in battle.

    In short, Western military theory does not care about the gains and losses of one city or one place, and the principle of giving priority to preserving strength is more in line with the situation of modern warfare.  After becoming a powerful country, the domestic people are more able to accept the news of the failure of the Republican Army. Perhaps this is the self-confidence of a powerful country. Even if we have failed, we will win in the end.
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