The beach line stretching for more than ten kilometers on the east coast of Niihau Island has become a huge army gathering ground and a dumping ground for supplies.
Once again, the incomparably formidable material power of the United States has shown its might.
An artificial harbor, codenamed "Mulberry", has begun to take shape more than two months after the American GIs landed on Niihau.
The artificial harbour attached to the sandy beaches of Niihau Island is made up of 66 hollow concrete caissons up to 61 meters long, 13 straight piers, 32 shipwrecks and countless cross-shaped steel elements.
The hollow concrete caissons were built in shipyards on the West Coast of the United States, and a total of 87 were built, with displacements ranging from 1,800 tons to 6,000 tons.
Each caisson is actually an unpowered concrete boat, towed by tugboats from the West Coast of the United States to the Hawaiian Islands, with 21 sunk on the way due to wind and waves or Japanese air raids.
However, the remaining 66 caissons still form a 4,026-meter-long breakwater.
The 13 piers are all 61 meters long, 17 meters wide, 20 meters high displacement 5,500 tons of special vessels, propelled by diesel engines, also sailing directly from the West Coast of the United States.
These piers are now fixed to piles driven to the bottom of the sea, which can rise and fall with the waves.
Through them, tanks and vehicles on landing ships can drive directly to the beach.
Considering that the sea area where Niihau Island is located can sometimes have large winds and waves, the US Naval Engineering Administration, which is responsible for the construction of this artificial port, spared no expense to sink 32 old merchant ships with an empty displacement of more than 300,000 tons outside the breakwater, forming a breakwater about 5,000 meters long.
After all these astonishing constructions were completed, the Americans created a wave-proof water area of about 3 square kilometers on the beach on the west coast of Niihau, which could simultaneously moor four large ships with a draft of 10 meters, 20 landing ships of several thousand tons, and a large number of tugboats and dinghies.
It can handle up to 6,000 tons of cargo per day.
Thanks to this miraculous artificial harbor, Niihau has become the home base of the United States on the Hawaiian Islands.
Every day, thousands of tons of supplies, weapons, ammunition, building materials, fuel, machinery, spare parts, tents, and all sorts of other supplies are unloaded from freighters, large and small, and stacked in makeshift warehouses on and near the beaches of Niihau.
A number of 47, 51, 61, B17, B24 and B25 series aircraft, either unloaded from ships or simply transferred from the continental United States, were also deployed to the island's restored or newly built airfields.
Tanks of the 4 series, tank destroyers of the 10 series, 7 self-propelled guns, artillery of the 105 and 155, as well as the heavy ground forces of the US Army operating these weapons also went ashore in large numbers through these docks.
These American troops, under the command of General Patton, took over the battlefield from the first Marines to land and launched a fierce assault on the Japanese forces still defending the island.
By the end of June '44, the organized resistance of the Japanese on Niihau had largely ceased to exist, and the entire island had fallen completely into the hands of the Americans.
Then, on June 30, Admiral Halsey moved his Central Pacific Command to Niihau, just 225 kilometers from Pearl Harbor.
His headquarters was located in a small east-west valley to the east of the island, which was not dangerous, but because of the cover of two small hill beams, it was extremely difficult for naval guns to cover the sea, and it was one of the safest and most difficult areas to capture in the whole of Nihau.
In order to occupy this place, the Americans had fought a series of bloody battles with the Japanese army, fought for 18 days, and paid a heavy price of thousands of casualties before taking it.
In addition, after the seizure of the place, the U.S. military also found mass graves in the valley where the bones of American civilians were buried, so the place now has a new name: the Valley of Blood and Tears.
"Admiral, the Japanese devils on Niihau Island have caused us heavy losses."
In a command post assembled from wood and steel plates, covered with camouflage nets, and an underground bomb shelter was built nearby.
Halsey's subordinate, Lieutenant General Barton, commander-in-chief of the Hawaiian Islands Army, gave a tired account of the bloody battle on Niihau.
This American tiger general, who was supposed to be high-spirited, now looks very gloomy, and he looks thin, his skin is tanned, and he has a bit of a scruffy beard.
At first glance, you know that you have just fought an exhausting battle.
"George, I know our lads are fighting hard," Halsey said, his pipe in his mouth, his brow furrowed, "but now the United States needs them to continue to kill the Japanese, and kill them fiercely."
"Landing on Oahu is coming soon," George Patton immediately understood what Halsey meant.
"Yes."
Halsey spat out a puff of white smoke, "The situation is very critical now, we must first knock Japan out of the game, and then concentrate on Europe." ” "Damn it," General Patton scolded, "are we going to let the Japanese go like this, they will kill many of us?"
Halsey glanced at the angry Barton, gritted his teeth and said, "This is a secret and cannot be known to the people below, otherwise it will affect morale." ” Now that the U.S. forces on the front lines in the Hawaiian Islands have been furious, most of the officers and men are enraged by the mass graves found on Niihau Island.
Therefore, in the process of occupying Niihau, all the Japanese on the island, whether they were soldiers or civilians, were all "broken", and there were even many incidents of torture and killing of Japanese prisoners who were captured after being seriously injured and unconscious.
And all these crimes were ignored by Lieutenant General Patton, who commanded the battle of Nihawau.
Lieutenant General Patton nodded silently.
Halsey went on to say: "According to reliable intelligence, the Japanese are now as anxious as we are, because they must attack the Soviet Far East before the winter of 1944 arrives, or it may fall into the hands of the Germans."
And to attack the Soviet Far East, it was necessary to first push us back from the Hawaiian Islands. ” Patton did not quite understand the logic of Halsey's words: was there a necessary connection between the attack on the Soviet Far East and the decisive battle at the Hawaiian Islands?
Halsey looked at him and said: "The USSR is our ally, and there is also a Pacific Fleet with a large number of submarines and 2 battlecruisers with good performance.
In addition, they control a number of ports close to Japan, and if they join us in battle, we will be able to further increase the power of the disruptive engagement.
We even had the opportunity to use the Soviet airfield in Vladivostok to carry out air strikes on the Japanese mainland Therefore, Japan had to destroy the Soviet Pacific Fleet at the beginning of the war against the Soviet Union, and seize or destroy the port and Vladivostok fortress that could be used as a submarine base.
And to achieve these goals, Japan must concentrate on using their fleet. ” "I see," Lieutenant General Patton pondered, "and now we and the Japanese want to defeat each other at once, so we must land on Oahu as soon as possible."
And the Japanese will definitely send the main force of the fleet to counterattack at the beginning of the bloody battle on Oahu. ” "Yes," said Halsey, "that's why, if we win, then we can use the main forces of the Pacific Fleet against the Germans." ” "When will the landing on Oahu begin?"
Barton asked after a moment's thought.
"In mid-July," Halsey said, he gave an approximate time, "it depends on the readiness of the Marines and the Army." ” "July 15 will be ready," Barton gave a specific date after a moment's consideration.
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"The resting army on Niihau Island will be able to go to war again after July 15 to kill the Japanese" Halsey lowered his head heavily, his already fierce eyes already full of murderous intent.
"It seems that July will be the time for us to fight to the death with the Japanese Navy."
"Your Excellency Marshal, this is the battle plan for the Jet-2 jointly drawn up by Commander Nagumo, Chief of Staff Kusaka, and Commander Ozawa of the 1st Mobile Fleet."
On June 31, Ito finally returned to Tokyo with a copy of the battle plan that had been discussed with Nagumo, Kusaka, and other senior officials of the Combined Fleet.
There were two copies he brought back, one of which was left at the Military Command Department, and the other was personally sent to Yamamoto Isoroku's desk.
"Commander Nagumo, Chief of Staff Kusaka, and Commander Ozawa said," said Ito, handing Yamamoto a copy of the battle plan with both hands, "and the greatest difficulty in Operation Jet-2 was determining the location of the main force of the U.S.
Pacific Fleet.
Therefore, Commander Nagumo and Chief of Staff Kusaka decided to dispatch the main forces of the Combined Fleet to fight the U.S. forces to the death when they began to land on Oahu."
"Oh."
Yamamoto fifty-six nodded.
"Is Nagumo ready to send the main force of the fleet to Oahu?"
"Yes," Ito nodded heavily, "Commander Nagumo thinks that if you want to relieve the siege of Hawaii, you must first take Midway.
Once Midway Island is recaptured by our side, not only will the US military lose a base from which to explore the waters west of the Hawaiian Islands, but it will also be much more convenient for us to replenish our fighter planes with the Hawaiian Islands.
Therefore, Midway Island is a must for our army and a must for the US military.
However, Midway Island is a small island, and the troops and fighters that can accommodate it are extremely limited, and it is impossible to rely on its own defense to hold on, so the main force of the US fleet will inevitably rescue Midway.
At that time, the combined fleet will be able to attack the enemy with the tactics of nine stages, and finally the battleship force with four Yamato-class battleships as the core will fight a decisive battle with the enemy. t1706231537: