1944 was a year full of hope. The Allied forces won one victory after another during this year. On the European battlefield, Italy had surrendered. Although the American and British Allied forces suffered heavy losses in the "Operation Market Garden", many Americans

The hope of ending the war before the New Year was destined to be unrealized. Even wanting to invade the German mainland before the end of 1944 had become an unattainable goal. However, by the end of the year, the Germans jumped

They came out to seek death and took the initiative to launch an offensive campaign - the Battle of the Ardennes. As a result, by the end of the year, the US military successfully repelled the German troops and approached the German mainland in pursuit of them.

On the Eastern Front of Europe, although the Germans continued to win as always, they were winning and winning, and unknowingly they were winning at home. Moreover, the German army also won less and less, and became weaker and weaker, while the Soviet army became weaker and weaker.

The more you lose, the stronger you become. It can be said that although the Germans have survived for 44 years, no matter what, even the Germans themselves understand that they will not survive the next year.

In the Pacific, the U.S. military also won successive victories. Although it suffered a head-on attack from Radio Tokyo and almost the entire army was "blown away". However, the U.S. military still tore apart the Japanese's absolute defense circle and actually destroyed Japan.

The only remaining power of the navy. When this year passed, the once glorious Japanese navy, as a strategic force, had little influence on the future war situation.

Only on the Chinese battlefield did the allies show no sign of imminent victory. Although Ron's second brother described the successive victories of his guerrilla zone, on the frontal battlefield, the Chinese battlefield showed a near-collapse mood.

The Japanese army launched the "Operation No. 1" to open up the mainland's communication lines. As a result, a large number of KMT troops have been replaced by American-style equipment. The troops have been obviously weakened and a large number of supplementary troops are used, especially the use of underage supplementary troops.

The Japanese army was beaten to a pulp, losing thousands of miles of land and losing millions of troops. It almost repeated the scene from 1937 to 1938, especially Commander Tang Enbo, the archdruid stationed in Henan (this person was in Henan, and had to do with natural floods and droughts.

, the locust plague is also known as the fourth plague - soup disaster) The troops under his command almost did not make any decent resistance before being defeated, leaving one full warehouse after another intact to Little Japan, and placed in those warehouses

It was full of the all-American equipment that the Americans had just sent them and the grain they had plundered from the Henan fellows. In order to fill these warehouses with food, they let countless Henan fellows starve to death. They also told the interviewer

The foreign reporter on this matter said this "truth": If the army is starved to death, the land and farmers will become Japanese. If the farmers are starved to death, as long as the army is still there, the land will still be Chinese.

. However, after they starved to death a large number of farmers, when the Japanese came, not only the land, but also the weapons sent by the allies and the food saved by the starved farmers all became the Japanese's.

But now, the situation on the Chinese battlefield is no longer the most concerning to Americans. Because this battlefield no longer has decisive significance. It is already the end of 1944. By this time, even if Chang Kaishen surrenders, will the Japanese still do this?

Can the foundation be moved from the Japanese archipelago to mainland China?

The Battle of the Philippines is still ongoing, but the outcome has long been a foregone conclusion. It is difficult for an island to continue to persevere after losing the support of the navy. In order to deal with the US military's fuel-air bombs, the Japanese army now rarely relies on fortifications.

If they are stubborn, they will use small teams to entangle the US military. To deal with such small targets, it is too inconvenient to use fuel-air bombs. Or the Japanese will rely on towns where local residents still live to fight against the US military - with the "Philippines"

It is difficult for the US military, which claims to be a "liberator", to drop fuel-air bombs on towns where Filipinos still live, because this will bring disastrous political consequences. Therefore, the Japanese can still put up a certain degree of resistance in the Philippines. However, in the fuel-air bombs

Under the shadow of air bombs, the Japanese army was almost unable to organize large-scale field operations. This meant that the U.S. military had more opportunities to fight with more and fewer. In the Philippines, the Japanese army was unable to recover.

Now the US military has turned its focus to the next target-Iwo Jima.

As early as October 1944, when Ron left the European battlefield and returned to the United States, and when the Philippines campaign had just begun, the U.S. Navy had formulated a plan to capture Iwo Jima. The U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet had a very interesting setup. That

That is, the mobile fleet of the Pacific Fleet has two commanders and fleet numbers that are used interchangeably.

The main mobile force of the Pacific Fleet was commanded by General Halsey and General Spruance in turn: when General Halsey was the commander of the fleet, this fleet was called the Third Fleet; while under the command of General Spruance

When this fleet was established, the number of this fleet became the Fifth Fleet. On the one hand, this was done to confuse the Japanese, but more importantly, after preparing two sets of command systems, when one command team led

When leading the fleet to perform combat missions, another command team can study the next action plan at the rear. Just like in October 1944, Halsey took the Third Fleet to fight the Battle of the Philippines, and Spruun

General Si led the command team of the Fifth Fleet to study the next attack target at Pearl Harbor. After comprehensively considering the needs of various aspects, especially the needs of the Army Air Force for fighter airports close to Japan and B-29 bomber alternate airports

Afterwards, the U.S. Navy determined that Iwo Jima would be the next target.

The Japanese have built two airports on Iwo Jima, and according to reconnaissance, they are still building a third airport. Relying on these airports, the Japanese can even launch sneak attacks on the US military airport on Saipan. In other words, the Japanese are really still

They launched several air raids that seemed almost death-defying. As a result, the Americans did not even think that the Japanese would dare to commit suicide like this. In the end, several B-29 bombers were destroyed by the Japanese.

Such behavior would of course be retaliated by the US military, so the US 21st Bomber Wing organized a group to visit Iwo Jima several times. After that, Japan no longer had any aircraft on Iwo Jima.

Because the war in the Philippines was progressing smoothly, Halsey was able to return to the Ulithi base with the fleet more than a month in advance for rest and recuperation. This was because on the ground, Gray Wolf captured three more airports, which made the Army Aviation in the Philippines

The number of aircraft increased to nearly a thousand, so the task of ground fire support became smaller and smaller. Halsey felt that since there were no more maritime targets to fight, he still risked being struck by the kamikaze and stayed in the Philippines.

, a bit not worth it.

Halsey returned to Ulithi ahead of schedule, which also gave the opportunity to advance the operation on Iwo Jima. At this time, General Spruance also received new information. The photos taken by the reconnaissance aircraft showed that the Japanese

People are engaged in massive fortification construction on Iwo Jima. Judging from the number of people on the island and the number of construction machinery, General Spruance and General Holland Smith, who is responsible for commanding the 5th Amphibious Corps of the landing, have determined that

, this island has by far the tightest defense. General Smith estimated that to take this island, the US military would have to pay at least 20,000 casualties. This estimate is quite accurate. In the original history, the US military suffered casualties on Iwo Jima.

More than 28,000 people were killed. This number of casualties was even higher than that of the Japanese. Of course, most of the US military casualties were injured, while the Japanese casualties were basically equal to deaths. If we compare the death ratio, well,

Or the Japanese died much more.

Ron had experience in Normandy, and according to the plan, once the airport was captured, his troops would immediately transfer to Iwo Jima, so he was also transferred here to participate in the discussion. Join him in this discussion

Also included was General LeMay, who had just been transferred to the command of the 21st Bomb Wing.

"As far as we know, the Japanese army on Iwo Jima has a very systematic defense system." General Spruance said clearly at the beginning, "General Smith of the Marine Corps told me that to capture this island, it will take a lot of effort.

Twenty thousand casualties. So, I first need to understand whether this island is really so necessary and irreplaceable. As you know, our navy has a cross-island tactic, which is to cross the enemy's heavily fortified islands and capture them behind them.

, the enemy’s poorly defended islands, and then block sea routes to render the enemy-controlled islands useless.”

"Very important. Without this island, we would not be able to carry out strategic bombing of Japan." General Curtis LeMay replied immediately and decisively.

"The Japanese are very crazy," Ron said, knowing that Li Mei was not good at explaining. "Just like they will use suicide planes to attack our warships by ramming them, the Japanese will also use ramming methods to attack our warships."

Intercept our bombers. It is difficult to avoid collisions relying on the maneuverability of the bombers themselves. Without Iwo Jima, our bombers would not be protected by fighter jets. This would be like a fleet facing an enemy's suicide aircraft.

But it is not as dangerous as the protection of carrier-based fighter jets. Fighting under such conditions, we may have to pay tens of thousands, or even nearly 100,000 aircrew casualties."

"Ah, landing will cost 20,000 Marines casualties. If we don't land, we will lose more air crews. And we will kill so many fewer Japanese." General Spruance turned to General Smith and said, "Smith,

I think it is completely necessary for us to launch this campaign."

"General LeMay," Marine Corps commander Lieutenant General Smith began, "I know that in the battle in the Philippines, fuel-air bombs played a key role in the progress of the battle. But, as far as I know, whether in Europe

, or in the Philippines, such bombs are carried by tactical aircraft. Near Iwo Jima, we do not have an airport for Army Aviation’s tactical aircraft to take off and land. So, can Army Aviation’s heavy bombers carry such bombs?

And ensure sufficient accuracy?”

"The b-29 can carry any bomb. As for accuracy, if there are no Chinese military personnel nearby, we can rely on carpet bombing to ensure the attack on important targets. If there are Chinese military personnel nearby, our 21st Bomb Wing can also carry out several bomb attacks.

Drop bombs at a height of 100 meters." Li Mei responded immediately.

"Very good, thank you!" General Smith certainly knew what kind of risks Li Mei would take by letting the B-29 drop bombs at a height of several hundred meters. From this answer, he clearly felt

, how much China Airlines attaches great importance to this airport.
Chapter completed!