Chapter 37: Demolition of the East and the West Wall

The Chinese army participated in the war and became a roadblock for the Israeli army. The right hook could not be hit, and the assault troops entering the Beca Valley were intercepted again, and the Israeli army's attack was almost completely paralyzed.

Faced with this situation, it is time for the US military to take action.

On the night of the 16th Eastern Time, after receiving the request from the Israeli Prime Minister, Lucas immediately stated that he would send air forces to support Israel as soon as possible.

However, Lucas did not say when to dispatch it.

For the US military, aiding Israel is both a simple task and a complicated matter.

To put it simply, it is mainly because before the war broke out, the Pentagon had already considered that China would send troops to the Middle East, so it wrote aid to Israel into its combat plan, and it mainly provided air aid in the early stage. When the Israel Defense Force could not hold on, it would dispatch ground troops.

To be complicated, it is that the development of the war situation is different from the US military's plan. The key is that Singapore surrendered without fighting and failed to restrain the Chinese army, which caused the US military's strategic offensive in the Western Pacific direction to encounter trouble and also allowed China to open up a new battlefield in the Middle East in advance.

For the US military, the situation is very difficult now.

Because the offensive operation planned to be launched at the end of November was forced to be postponed, the US military increased its strategic bombing efforts in an attempt to restrain China's air force. Unfortunately, not only the effect was not obvious, but the losses were also quite heavy. By November 15, the US strategic aviation troops dispatched more than 14,000 aircraft in the direction of China, with a loss rate of up to 1.4%, and the mission completion rate was less than 40%. In East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia, the US military deployed more than 7,000 aircraft in the direction of the country, with a loss rate of up to 1.7%, and the mission completion rate was only 48%. In other words, after the war started, the US military had lost more than 300 strategic bombers, but the results achieved were very limited. What can be seen was that China's major factories began to migrate inland.

It can be said that the US military's early strategic bombing completely failed.

Although the United States' war machines were started before November and operated with extremely high efficiency, the monthly production of bombers was less than twenty in October and reached 120 in the first half of November, but they still couldn't keep up with the loss speed. The main reason was the lack of forward bases and the inability to provide cover for the bomber group, resulting in the bombers either projecting cruise missiles far away from China's local areas or breaking through China's air defense network alone. The former's bombing efficiency will not be much higher, while the latter will have to bear great risks.

At that time, the most urgent task of the US military was to capture a forward base.

In fact, this is also the main reason why the capture of the Western Pacific islands is the first in the overall war plan of the US military. Only by obtaining a forward base can the bomber be covered, the bomber's bombing efficiency can be improved, and the bomber's loss rate can be reduced.

With the development trend before November 15, if this problem cannot be solved, the strategic bombing of the US military will end before the end of the year, because by then, there will be no bombers available for the US military.

The problem is that the Western Pacific strategic offense has been postponed to the end of the year.

Affected by this, the US military had to adjust its bombing methods, that is, it no longer mainly attacks China's mainland, but focuses on bombing the surrounding areas of China.

Since November 1, the US military has focused on Southeast Asia.

This has a very prominent benefit: fighter jets deployed in northern Australia can be used to escort bombers.

The effect of escorting is very obvious. For example, in the ten days from November 6 to 15, the combat loss rate of the US bomber group in Southeast Asia dropped to less than one percent, the mission completion rate increased to about 60 percent, and many Chinese fighter jets were shot down during the battle.

However, Southeast Asia is by no means the focus of the US military.

After Singapore changed hands, the Pentagon discovered that the attack on the Philippines was no longer successful when adjusting its combat plan. The reason is simple. After China occupied Singapore, there were no loopholes in the military base network in Southeast Asia. Although from a geographical perspective, the US military can still attack the Philippines from the east and occupy several islands, the consequences are unbearable, because this means that the US military will have to take Southeast Asia first and be forced to modify its strategic bombing plan.

In this way, the US military had only one last option: attacking Okinawa.

Starting from November 10, the deployment of the US military revolves around the attack on Okinawa Island, such as assembling nine aircraft carrier battle groups in the Philippine Sea west of Guam, deploying 200 strategic bombers in Guam, focusing on bombing military facilities on the Ryukyu Islands, sending submarines to the East China Sea, etc.

The result was that for a moment, the US military had no extra air power.

At that time, there were more than 3,000 US fighter jets deployed in the Western Pacific, Southwest Pacific and Indian Oceans. Before the outbreak of the war, the total number of US fighter jets was about 3,500. Because China had a strategic bomber force of not small size, and the range of these bombers was large enough to pose a threat to the US mainland, the US military had to retain the minimum air defense force on the ground. As a result, the US military's 3,500 US fighter jets and more than 200 fighter jets produced after the outbreak of the war were all used.

Faced with Israel's plight, the US Air Force basically has no help.

In his reply to the President, General Arnold clearly mentioned that even if the situation is ideal, air forces will not be sent to Israel until the end of November at the earliest.

Now, only the navy can be used.

On November 16, the US Fourth Fleet was still active in the Gulf of Aden, but Admiral Jordan had made arrangements and decided to let the Fourth Fleet go to the East Indian Ocean in a few days and block the Sunda Strait and Malacca Strait with the Third Fleet, because the signs of Chinese fleet entering the Indian Ocean were already very obvious.

After receiving a call from the president, Jordan was in a very difficult situation.

If Israel is not supported, the Chinese army is likely to reverse the war situation in the Middle East within a few days. At that time, in order to save Israel, the United States will have to use more troops and even ground troops, which will completely fail to attack Okinawa. If Israel is supported, the Chinese fleet may take the opportunity to enter the Indian Ocean, and it is very likely to kill the solitary Third Fleet in the first battle and challenge the Fourth Fleet. Jordan is very clear about the outcome and knows that this will never be done.

In his opinion, China's entry into the Middle East was to restrain the US Navy and create opportunities for the fleet to enter the Indian Ocean.

Jordan had no choice. In his reply, he clearly mentioned that it was not time to send a fleet to participate in the war, but the carrier-based aviation could be mobilized. According to Jordan, the best way is to send the Fourth Fleet's aviation force to Israel, and then draw three carrier-based aviation forces from the Western Pacific direction, strengthen it and then supplement it to the Fourth Fleet, while the other fleets were supplemented with the newly formed aviation force.

This proposal was immediately approved by Lucas.

Before the outbreak of the war, the US Navy had a total of 16 carrier-based aviation gangs, of which 15 were combat units and the other was training units. In addition, three carrier-based aviation gangs had been formed and were undergoing training, and these three gangs were planned to be deployed on the second batch of "Enterprise"-class aircraft carriers (because the first ship was named "US", but the second ship "Enterprise" was first in service, so it was also called "US" class). In other words, the US Navy still has surplus air force, but it does not have combat capabilities for the time being.

Of course, this is not a big problem, because it will not attack Okinawa until the end of December.

As a result, at around 7 a.m. on the 17th battlefield time, more than 200 carrier-based fighter jets of the Fourth Fleet set off for Israel and arrived around 10 a.m. that day. Because the performance of the navy's carrier-based early warning aircraft was not very good, the Air Force dispatched six large early warning aircraft.

After completing this mission, the Fourth Fleet left the Gulf of Aden and rushed to the East Indian Ocean at full speed.

According to Jordan's arrangement, after arriving near Australia, the Fourth Fleet will obtain three carrier-based aviation gangs from the Seventh Fleet, and within the next two days, dozens of fighter jets will be added. The Seventh Fleet's three aircraft carrier battle groups will retreat to the vicinity of Hawaii, and then rush to Guam after receiving the supplement at the end of November, and participate in the battle in the form of reserve forces at the end of December.

This arrangement is clever, but there are some problems.

The most serious problem is: before November 19, the US Navy's troops in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans will be completely equal, that is, there are only six aircraft carrier battle groups in both directions, and there is no absolute advantage over the remaining four aircraft carrier battle groups of the Chinese Navy.

To put it simply, as long as the Chinese Navy seizes this opportunity, the decisive battle will begin in advance.

Even if the Chinese Navy fails to seize this opportunity, it is likely to have an impact on the offensive at the end of December, because the three carrier-based aviation gangs under training were originally planned to be established until 2053, but now they are several months ahead of schedule, and the training will definitely not be done. In the absence of combat effectiveness of one-third of the carrier-based aviation troops, the difficulty of the US military attacking Okinawa Island will be greatly increased.

In addition, there is another issue worthy of attention, that is, the participation of US carrier-based fighter jets in the war is equivalent to proving that the Fourth Fleet is active in the Gulf of Aden. That is to say, if the Chinese Navy seizes this opportunity, it will send a fleet into the Indian Ocean before the Fourth Fleet arrives and concentrates its efforts to kill the Third Fleet.

In fact, the Chinese Navy was already trying to search for the Third Fleet at that time.

In order to avoid exposing their whereabouts, the Third Fleet voluntarily retreated more than 500 kilometers on November 6, but this situation is difficult to maintain.

At that time, even Jordan realized that the Chinese Navy was looking for a chance to fight.

The Chinese fleet has not yet entered the Indian Ocean, which has a lot to do with the unknown whereabouts of the Fourth Fleet, that is, the Chinese Navy does not want to take risks in the Indian Ocean.

As long as the whereabouts of the Fourth Fleet are understood, the Chinese Navy will definitely not hesitate.

Chapter 37: Demolition of the East and the West Wall
Chapter completed!