Only after the Marines gained a foothold in Wanunu Island did the curtain of the bloody battle of the Solomon Islands officially kick off.

In the next year, the warring sides did almost everything to control the archipelago, and no one was willing to give in.

According to Mu Haoyang's deployment, the Marines were not in a hurry to attack Guadalcanal Island.[..com]

Judging from the information disclosed after the war, at the end of 2053, the Marine Corps did not even formulate a combat plan to attack Guadalcanal. The main reason was that the Marine Corps could only gather the troops of four divisions at that time, and it would not be possible to obtain a new Marine Division until mid-2054. Although Pang Yuelong proposed to directly attack Guadalcanal when formulating the plan, it was rejected by Mu Haoyang. Then Pang Yuelong no longer insisted, mainly because the information provided by the Military Intelligence Bureau made him realize that attacking Guadalcanal was definitely not an easy task.

In the absence of immediate attack on Guadalcanal, Wanunu Island became the foothold of the Marines.

On November 31, with everything ready, the Marines cooperated with the fleet to carry out the first large-scale artillery bombardment of the US military on Guadalcanal Island.

In this whole day-long artillery bombardment, the Marine Corps used 400 electromagnetic guns and projected 120,000 shells, with an average of 5,000 projections per hour. Under the guidance of carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft, large unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, and shore-based reconnaissance aircraft, they carried out irregular artillery fire strikes on the US military on Guadalcanal Island. However, the real protagonist is not the Marine Corps, nor the fleet, nor the carrier-based aviation, but the strategic bomber deployed in the Mariana Islands. On that day, the Chinese Air Force used at least 120 strategic bombers and dropped more than 200 super ground-boring bombs known as the "underground fortification Terminator", focusing on the US military's underground defense fortifications.

The bomb weighs twelve tons and is made of the large-caliber artillery body tube scrapped by the army. It uses a three-level tandem warhead. The main warhead is loaded with 150 kilograms of strong explosives and is detonated by intelligent fuses. It can penetrate a layer of soil of 120 meters thick, or concrete of 40 meters thick, or granite of 25 meters thick. One bomb can destroy underground fortifications with a volume of more than 100,000 cubic meters.

It can be said that this was the most powerful ground-boring bomb in the world at that time.

However, actual combat has proved that this kind of bomb is still a little overwhelmed in dealing with the most solid underground fortifications of the US military.

Later, the Chinese army developed two bombs specifically for underground fortifications, one was the "House Destroyer" weighing 20 tons, and the other was the "Can opener" weighing 16 tons. The former was still a ground-boring bomb, that is, the depth of drilling by enhancing the strength of the bomb body and the power of the front warhead. The latter was not a ground-boring bomb, but a bomb used to destroy the reinforced structure of the top of the underground bunker. Practical combat proved that using these two bombs together can basically deal with all types of underground bunkers in the world. The main thing is to use the "can opener" to throw away the soil layer above the underground bunker, the rock layer and the reinforced concrete reinforcement layer, and then use the "House Destroyer" to carry out the ultimate strike. If a "can opener" cannot be passed, several can be used repeatedly to destroy the reinforcement layer of the underground bunker.

Of course, it is not just strategic bombers that can use these giant bombs.

Later, the Air Force developed a new bomb drop method, that is, to throw the bomb out of the tail hatch door with a large electric transport aircraft with a super load capacity.

However, when these two bombs came out, the Battle of Solomon Islands was about to end.

At this point, the US military had no other choice except to try every means to defend the Solomon Islands.

You should know that when Australia's civil anti-war waves are rising one after another, the United States has no way out and can only guard the Solomon Islands at all costs. If the Solomon Islands fall quickly, Australia will definitely turn against the water, at least unilaterally withdraw from the war.

The result is that the US military can only do everything possible.

On November 30, French signed a general mobilization order for the Pacific Fleet to order all troops to participate in the defense of the Solomon Islands.

Of course, this only has the publicity effect.

Not to mention anything else, French did not use the Fifth Fleet that had returned, and withstood the pressure from the White House, and refused to send the Fifth Fleet to fight.

It must be admitted that French is very sensible.

Given the situation at that time, if he really sent the Fifth Fleet out, the result would not be much better than the Third Fleet, and he would definitely be completely wiped out by the Chinese fleet.

You should know that the first fleet of the Chinese Navy has not entered the Coral Sea, but is just waiting for the Fifth Fleet of the US Army.

However, French only had this ability. In addition to preserving the Fifth Fleet, he sent all the warships he could mobilize.

At that time, the most important ship of the US military was a large number of attack nuclear submarines.

By the end of 2053, the number of U.S. Navy attacked nuclear submarines had increased to 164, with 120 in the Pacific Fleet. At least two-thirds of these submarines were able to go to sea to fight, and the other third were either maintained in ports or on their way back.

In other words, the US military can use up to eighty strategic nuclear submarines.

You should know that before the outbreak of the war, the US military owned less than 80 strategic nuclear submarines in total.

Twenty of these submarines were sent to Australia to operate in the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea, mainly used to deal with Chinese submarines heading south.

The remaining sixty ships were all sent by France to the Western Pacific.

According to French's deployment, these submarines had only one mission: ambush the fleets and fleets heading to the Solomon Islands, and prevent the Chinese Navy from increasing troops to the front line.

It can be said that this is a very correct strategy.

The Marines arrived at Wanunu Island with only four divisions, which was not enough to capture Guadalcanal. Therefore, if the Chinese Marines wanted to continue to advance, they had to send additional combat troops. Even if the Chinese Marines did not intend to attack Guadalcanal, but instead suppressed the US troops on the island with firepower, they had to transport combat supplies, especially ammunition, to the front line, and the pressure on logistics supply would not be much smaller.

As long as the sea route is cut off, the Chinese Marines on Wangwunu Island will not be afraid.

However, it is obvious that it is impossible to completely cut off the maritime route by relying solely on submarines.

To this end, French began to tamper with Wake Island, and deployed dozens of anti-submarine patrol aircraft here to monitor routes from the Mariana Islands to the Solomon Islands, mainly to monitor the transport fleets heading south, provide battlefield information for submarines, and help submarines fight.

At that time, French also deployed more than 100 anti-submarine patrol aircraft in northeastern Australia, and allowed these patrol aircraft to venture north from Papua New Guinea, south of Micronesia, and the Philippine Sea to search for transport fleets from the Ryukyu Islands to the Solomon Islands. These patrol aircraft played a great role, and later at least six fleets were ambushed by submarines. However, in this direction, the US military patrol aircraft had to face it.

The interception of the National Fighter jets also paid a very heavy price. By the end of the Battle of Solomon Islands, the US military lost nearly 200 patrol aircraft and about 1,800 crew members in this direction. At that time, the US military called the operation to Micronesia and the Philippines to search for transport fleets "death mission", because 40% of the patrol aircraft dispatched could not return to the base, and the pilots shot down had no chance of survival.

Breaking the battle is one way for French, but not all.

By the end of the year, more than 800 ships gathered in Australia, most of which were small ships, especially missile boats and hydrofoil boats. Later, the US military also used Australian shipyards to mass produce new hydrofoil missile boats with speeds of more than 60 knots.

These small ships are definitely a huge threat to landing fleets and transport fleets.

In a sense, the losses caused exceed those of other US combat units. Especially at night, these small ships made of non-metallic materials such as fiberglass are difficult to detect by radar and difficult to see by the naked eye, and can often launch unexpected attacks. Later, the US military also developed high-speed missile boats powered by fuel cells, which are even more difficult to detect because this missile boat does not have obvious infrared radiation characteristics and is not easy to detect by infrared equipment. In night battles, infrared night vision instruments are the most important detection equipment.

The Chinese Navy took tit-for-tat measures against the US missile boat assault.

The most effective method is to form a formation of destroyers to expand the patrol range, and equip destroyers with weapons and ammunition specifically used to deal with small ships. The most effective weapon is the 70mm electromagnetic rapid-fire cannon, and all it needs to do is to provide high-explosive bombs for the electromagnetic cannon.

Practical combat proves that dense bomb rain is equally effective when dealing with small ships.

In addition to passive defense, the most effective method is to take the initiative to attack and attack the port where US warships are located.

Since April 2054, after the scale of the bomber group expanded, the Chinese Air Force has begun to focus on bombing ports in eastern Australia, and has dispatched bombers from the Mariana Islands several times, raiding New Zealand for a long distance, bombing ports in Wellington and other places.

Of course, attacking the transport fleet is also an effective means to attack the US military.

After the "Tuna" class fully electric submarines were put into service in large quantities, they concentrated on the Southwest Pacific to ambush the transport fleets on the US-Australia route. In order to support submarine operations, the Marines subsequently captured New Georgia Island and built three airports here for long-range patrol aircraft. In addition, in 2054, the Navy modified a long-range patrol aircraft with a range of more than 20,000 kilometers with large electric transport aircraft, which was specially used on the Pacific battlefield to carry out the mission of searching the US fleet and assisting submarine operations. In order to cover these long-range patrol aircraft, the Navy also developed a j- with a combat radius of 3,000 kilometers based on the J-33-

All in all, both sides are trying to crush their opponents.
Chapter completed!